Aortic valve stenosis surgery in elderly after 80 is safe and effective. Dr. Lawrence H. Cohn, MD. Mitral valve surgery is also safe and effective for elderly patients. But older patients should not delay heart surgery for too long. Leading cardiac surgeon explains. Dr. Anton Titov, MD. Heart valve surgery in elderly patients over 80 is safe and effective. Open heart surgery in older patients includes coronary artery bypass surgery in the 80 plus age range. Recovery of elderly patients after mitral valve repair is good. Mitral valve repair in older patients has many benefits. Dr. Lawrence H. Cohn, MD. Treatment of aortic valve stenosis is possible even in patients who are 90 years old. Aortic valve stenosis surgery in the elderly is safe and effective. But patients should not wait for deterioration in their condition. Heart surgery in the elderly has to be timely. Dr. Anton Titov, MD. Video interview with leading expert in cardiac surgery. Second opinion confirms that aortic valve stenosis in elderly diagnosis is correct and complete. Second opinion helps to choose the best treatment for aortic valve stenosis in elderly patients. Get second opinion on aortic valve stenosis and be confident that your treatment is the best. Mitral valve repair in older patients after 80. 1234 More patients need heart operations when they are older. Need for major surgery affects quality of life of patients. Patients and their families have to make serious decisions. Dr. Lawrence H. Cohn, MD. (Cardiac Surgeon, Harvard Medical School) Medical care gets better. More and more patients are living into the eighties and even nineties around the world. A lot of elderly patients develop aortic stenosis. Because aortic stenosis is a degenerative disease. There are several points about that. First, the risk of heart operation for elderly patients have come down. Particularly the risk of minimal invasive aortic valve surgery has decreased. Risks of hybrid heart surgery and endovascular procedures have come down. They decreased. Mortality in our experience is less than 3%. But the patient should not wait too long. Because sometimes the elderly patient has aortic stenosis. When this patient is in a good health, the patient should not wait too long to have heart surgery to treat aortic stenosis. Dr. Lawrence H. Cohn, MD. Do surgery to replace heart valve when your heart function is reasonably well compensated. Elderly patients should have heart surgery when they are in the best possible shape. This means their risk of surgery is as low as it can be. Sometimes elderly patients wait too long. They become very sick from their heart valve problem. Then the risk of operation becomes very high. Then benefits of heart valve surgery are reduced. So patients should think about having heart surgery earlier. Do not have heart valve replacement or repair surgery too late. We did heart surgery to treat aortic valve stenosis in patients who are 90 years old. Some patients were more than 90 years old. Because patients were very viable. Their mind was in excellent shape. Patients had support of the family and friends. These patients did great after surgery. Because everyone wanted them to get better. But you cannot wait too long to decide whether to have heart surgery. That is the key to success of operation. Correct timing to have heart surgery is most important. 1234 Patients have to make a decision about heart surgery with their physicians and surgeons. Dr. Anton Titov, MD. Patients must decide on surgery while their heart still functions well. Dr. Lawrence H. Cohn, MD. Exactly, that is correct. Early decision is the key to success of heart surgery. Surgery can be done safely in very elderly patients. But heart surgery in elderly patients has to be done earlier rather than later. 1234 Is hospital stay of elderly patients after heart surgery longer or not? 1234 No, elderly patient's length of time spent in the hospital is not too bad. A lot of elderly patients go after heart surgery to rehabilitation centers and nursing homes. They need just to recover and to regain their strength in arms and legs. But elderly patients recover in a similar fashion as other patients after heart surgery. Aortic valve stenosis surgery in elderly after 80. Dr. Anton Titov, MD. Mitral valve repair in patients over 80 is also safe and effective. But patients must not wait too long.