Normalizing Taking a 100-Year-Old Patient to Surgery

Concurrent Session Moderator(s)

• LC

  Laiya Carayannopoulos, MD

  Ontario, CAN

  Disclosure(s): No relevant financial relationship(s) to disclose.
• DC

  Dipayan Chaudhuri, MD, MS,

  McMaster University, Ontario, CAN

  Disclosure information not submitted.

As populations age, it is increasingly common for centenarians and near-centenarians to present for surgical procedures. Yet the idea of taking a 100-year-old patient to surgery can still provoke discomfort, skepticism, or outright resistance among clinicians and families. This session will challenge ageist assumptions and reframe surgical decision-making for very old patients. Speakers will address the evidence base around outcomes in the oldest patients, the importance of individualized assessment over chronological age, and the role of shared decision-making in aligning surgery with patients’ goals and values.

Presentations:

• 11:05 AM - 11:20 AM Central Time

  Improving Processes and Outcomes for Older Adults Undergoing Surgery
  

  Michael Devinney, MD (he/him/his) – Duke University Hospital
• 11:20 AM - 11:35 AM Central Time

  Countering Ageism in Determining Surgical Candidacy
  

  Robert D. Becher, MD, MS (he/him/his) – Yale School of Medicine