The number of elderly patients undergoing orthopedic surgery is steadily growing. Aging modifies the physiology, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics, and co-morbidity is common in the elderly. Therefore, it is important and necessary to evaluate the anesthetic management for orthopedic surgery in elderly patients.

Four hundred and twenty two patients, older than 80 yr, who underwent orthopedic surgery, between September 1996 and March 2004, were retrospectively reviewed according to age, sex, operation site, preexisting concomitant disease, anesthetic techniques, postoperative complications and mortality.

Three hundred and fifty seven patients had a pre-existing concomitant disease. There were no meaningful differences in the postoperative morbidity and mortality according to the anesthetic technique employed, although there was a clearly reduced incidence of deep vein thrombosis with regional anesthesia. There were significantly higher postoperative morbidity and mortality among patients with a pre-existing concomitant disease.

Appropriate anesthetic management is suggested for patients older than 80 yr undergoing orthopedic surgery, which will require proper preoperative evaluation, sufficient vigilance of their hemodynamics and an awareness of impaired circulatory function, as well as other age related concerns.