“Is hernia surgery advisable for an 80-year-old?”
My grandmother has a hernia. Is hernia surgery advisable for an 80-year-old?
2 Answers
As long as she is optimized for Surgery, such as cardiac clearance and lung clearance as needed. There should be no age discrimination in Surgery normally.
Her physiologic age (how healthy is she?) is more of a determining factor than her chronologic age. I have operated on many 90+ year olds who were healthier than 50+ year olds. In general, a hernia repair should be a safe operation in an 80 year old, and it is probably better to operate when she is 80 and not 90 and when it is a planned operation over an emergency.
