Cutaneous surgery under local anesthesia in very elderly patients 90 years of age and older is as safe as in elderly patients ranging in age from 75 to 80 years old.

BACKGROUND: The number of very elderly patients who require surgery for cutaneous tumors is increasing. However, there is limited information on the safety of cutaneous surgery in such patients.

METHODS: To evaluate the safety of cutaneous surgery in patients 90 years of age and older, we retrospectively reviewed the elderly patients who underwent surgery for cutaneous tumors under local anesthesia. Consecutive patients 90 years of age and older and 75-80 years old were included in the elderly group and the control group.

RESULTS: The elderly and control groups included 104 and 106 patients, respectively. The mean age of the patients was 93.4 years (range, 90-101 years) in the elderly group and 77.4 years (range, 75-80 years) in the control group. The preoperative performance status was significantly worse in the elderly group than in the control group (P < 0.001). The surgical time was not significantly different between the two groups (P = 0.09). The occurrences of intraoperative and postoperative complications were not significantly different between the two groups (P = 0.19 and P = 0.07, respectively).

CONCLUSIONS: The result of the present study indicates that cutaneous surgery for very elderly patients 90 years of age and older is as safe as for patients ranging in age from 75-80 years old.