Operative Treatment of Aortic Stenosis in the Elderly Patient

Abstract

IT is now well established that calcific aortic stenosis may be a surgical problem, although questions of optimum technics and surgical indications remain.^{1 2 3 4 5 6 7} It has been our belief that, except in rare cases, only patients with significant symptoms of angina, syncope or congestive heart failure should be subjected to surgery. At the same time we have not considered age a contraindication to surgery and have believed that the elderly patient with significant symptoms should not be denied surgical treatment. Thus, during the past six years, we have performed open aortic valvuloplasty on 3 patients who were seventy or more years . . .