ArticleScandinavian journal of trauma, resuscitation and emergency medicine2015
Emergency surgery in the elderly: the balance between function, frailty, fatality and futility.
Article in Scandinavian journal of trauma, resuscitation and emergency medicine, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 29 papers.
What it found
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The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
29 citing papers in PubMed, 98 citations in OpenAlex.
- Continuous versus interrupted abdominal wall closure after emergency midline laparotomy: CONTINT: a randomized controlled trial [NCT00544583].World journal of emergency surgery : WJES · 2023Trial
- Article
- Epidemiological patterns of general surgical emergencies during Hajj pilgrimage: a 10-year retrospective cohort study.Annals of medicine and surgery (2012) · 2026Article
- Improving Outcomes in Urological Surgery for the Elderly: Strategies for Optimization and Risk Reduction.Current urology reports · 2025Review
- Ethical considerations on the role of artificial intelligence in defining the futility in emergency surgery.International journal of surgery (London, England) · 2025Article
- Factors associated with serious abdominal conditions in geriatric patients visiting the emergency department.BMC emergency medicine · 2024Article
- Acute mesenteric ischaemia.The British journal of surgery · 2023Article
- Outcomes of emergency colorectal surgery in elderly population.Saudi medical journal · 2023Article
- Surgical mortality in patients in extremis: futility in emergency abdominal surgery.BMC surgery · 2023Observational
- [Between trivialization and pathologization: Healthcare in old age and the temporal structure of a good life].Ethik in der Medizin : Organ der Akademie fur Ethik in der Medizin · 2023Article
- Medicine in older age-perception and assessment of ageing processes by older people and medical and nursing professionals: study protocol for a qualitative focus group design (FOR TiMed_Life).BMC health services research · 2022Article
- Perioperative Factors Impact on Mortality and Survival Rate of Geriatric Patients Undergoing Surgery in the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Prospective Cohort Study in Indonesia.Journal of clinical medicine · 2022Article
- Gastro-intestinal emergency surgery: Evaluation of morbidity and mortality. Protocol of a prospective, multicenter study in Italy for evaluating the burden of abdominal emergency surgery in different age groups. (The GESEMM study).Frontiers in surgery · 2022Article
- Structured and Systematic Team and Procedure Training in Severe Trauma: Going from 'Zero to Hero' for a Time-Critical, Low-Volume Emergency Procedure Over Three Time Periods.World journal of surgery · 2021Observational
- Article
- The statistical importance of P-POSSUM scores for predicting mortality after emergency laparotomy in geriatric patients.BMC medical informatics and decision making · 2020Article
- ["Emergency anesthesia" in geriatric patients].Medizinische Klinik, Intensivmedizin und Notfallmedizin · 2020Review
- Hospital Operative Volume as a Quality Indicator for General Surgery Operations Performed Emergently in Geriatric PatientsJournal of the American College of Surgeons · 2019Article
- Emergency surgery in older patients.Wideochirurgia i inne techniki maloinwazyjne = Videosurgery and other miniinvasive techniques · 2019Article
- Frail Patients Benefit From Less Invasive Procedures.Geriatric orthopaedic surgery & rehabilitation · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Becoming old is considered a privilege and results from the socioeconomic progress and improvements in health care systems worldwide. However, morbidity and mortality increases with age, and even more so in acute onset disease. With the current prospects of longevity, a considerable number of elderly patients will continue to live with good function and excellent quality of life after emergency surgical care. However, mortality in emergency surgery may be reported at 15-30%, doubled if associated with complications, and notably higher in patients over 75 years. A number of risks associated with death are reported, and a number of scores proposed for prediction of risk. Frailty, a decline in the physiological reserves that may make the person vulnerable to even the most minor of stressful event, appears to be a valid indicator and predictor of risk and poor outcome, but how to best address and measure frailty in the emergency setting is not clear. Futility may sometimes be clearly defined, but most often becomes a borderline decision between ethics, clinical predictions and patient communication for which no solid evidence currently exists. The number and severity of other underlying condition(s), as well as the treatment alternatives and their consequences, is a complex picture to interpret. Add in the onset of the acute surgical disease as a further potential detrimental factor on function and quality of life - and you have a perfect storm to handle. In this brief review, some of the challenging aspects related to emergency surgery in the elderly will be discussed. More research, including registries and trials, are needed for improved knowledge to a growing health care challenge.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.