[What treatment expectations does the elderly patient have from surgery and what can surgery achieve? From the viewpoint of vascular surgery].

Vascular surgery represents 70% of surgery in over 60-year-old patients and 50% in over 70-year-old patients. For prophylactic reasons indications for operating should be made carefully in carotid and aneurysm surgery. In the case of chronic aorto iliacal obstructions extraanatomic procedures like femoro-femoral, ilio-femoral or axillo-femoral reconstruction should be preferred in high-risk patients. Combined intraoperative interventional procedures or percutaneous transluminal angioplasty including regional thrombolysis should be considered in the elderly.