[What treatment expectations does the elderly patient have from surgery and what can surgery achieve--from the viewpoint of heart surgery].

In the west the elderly population is constantly increasing. Consequently, the percentage of old and very old patients is also increasing among cardiac surgical cases. Almost all cardiac diseases which can be treated surgically can be corrected nowadays with good results even in very old patients. Prerequisites are the correct judgement of individual risk and possible individual gain for the patient. This has to be weighted against the surgeon's and the institution's results. Today, no patient requiring a cardiac operation should be refused on the grounds of age.