[Acute abdomen in the elderly: etiology, complications, and prognosis. A review of 100 cases (author's transl)].

One hundred cases of acute abdomen in patients over 70 years of age were studied. Mechanical occlusion was the most common cause among these patients, as opposed to acute appendicitis, which is the primary cause of the same condition among young people and adults. Irreducible hernias and visceral neoplasias were the most frequent etiologies among cases of mechanical occlusion. Cholecystitis took second place in our series. Visceral peforations were more often due to localized infections or visceral neoplasias than to gastric or duodenal ulcers. Overall mortality among these patients was 29 percent. Patients with visceral perforations due to localized infections or visceral neoplasias and all of the patients with vascular diseases had a negative prognosis.