[Proceedings: Results of the surgical treatment of valvulopathies and ischemic heart disease in patients older than 65 years].

53 patients aged from 65 to 76 years underwent surgery for valvulopathies (23 patients), atherosclerotic heart disease (24 patients) or both diseases combined (6 patients). All these cases were in NYHA fonctional classes III and IV except for one patient in class II. Hospital mortality after surgical treatment of these cardiopathies was 3.8% (2 deaths). The late mortality of 19% (10 deaths), though high, was of non-cardiac origin in 7 of these patients. The clinical and hemodynamic findings in the two patients who died in the postoperative period were compared with those in the others. These two patients were more severely ill and had a greater degree of cardiomegaly than the average patient in the surviving group. The satisfactory clinical improvement in these elderly cardiac patients suggests that surgery can be recommended at least up to 75 years of age if there are no obvious contraindications. Life expectancy of 13-16 years for patients aged 65 and 8-9 years for patients aged 75 is a further reason for advocating surgical intervention.