Hernia and Gall-Bladder Surgery in Patients over Seventy

Abstract

THE impact of an aging population has produced significant changes in the opinion of the medical profession about medical and surgical therapy, just as it has in the political and sociologic thinking of the nation. Much has been written about the treatment of degenerative diseases and cancer in these patients, and there is more and more agreement that age alone is never a contraindication to proper surgical treatment.¹ Much of the discussion has revolved around the treatment of cancer, vascular insufficiencies or other problems prevalent in older people.² To determine the effect of age on some surgical procedures it seemed . . .