My 85 yr old mother is in the hospital with gallbladder problems.  Diagnosed last yr with stones but told they would not remove it because of her age and not many stones.  Now pain is bad and they are considering it.Complications for this surgery on a woman her age?
Hi, I understand your concerns about the health of your mother and I will try to explain at you the risks for such surgery at a patient at 85 years old. First that you must understand is that the main problem here is not the procedure itself. An expert surgeon might do a laparoscopic cholecystectomy without any problem and this procedure lasts around 30 to 40 minutes. The main risks are correlated with her age, her heart disease, kidney and liver function and if she has other chronic problems or not. For example if your mother has only HBP, it is not a problem to do the surgery. But if she has Cardiopulmonary compromise than she has high risks for cardiac complications. It would be great if I had the medical reports of your mother, and medical history to know her risks/complications. If all her organs are working fine, especially her heart, liver and kidneys than she might do the surgery and probably without any serious complications during or after the surgery. Her surgeon and her anesthesiologist will be able to give you more information than me for her risks and complications because they know her medical history, and function of her other organs. Hope I have answered your query. Let me know if I can assist you further.