It is apparent both from one's own experience and from population trends that the elderly patient constitutes an increasingly important segment of medical practice. This poses a challenge to the medical profession that can be met only by a thorough understanding of the problems that are peculiar to this group of patients. In an attempt to improve our knowledge of the surgical treatment of the aged patient, a study was done of patients (65 years of age or older) who were operated on in the Confederate Memorial Medical Center from Jan. 1, 1955, through Dec. 31, 1956. These patients were from the general surgery wards alone, and a detailed study was made of those who had adbominal surgery. If a patient died while in the hospital following a surgical procedure, the death was tabulated as an operative one, regardless of the time between surgery and death. During the two years