Open heart valve surgery in patients aged 70 and above.

Satisfactory results with open cardiac valve surgery in selected elderly patients have been increasingly reported during recent years. In a series of 17 patients aged 70 or above the operative mortality was 18% and the long-term results were favourable. When selecting elderly patients for heart valve surgery special attention should be paid to left ventricular function and the presence of coronary artery diseases, which have unfavourable influence on the results.