At what age does the risk outweigh the reward for routine surgery?

Last week a good friend of mine, age 68, went in for a routine operation to have a skin cancer removed and replaced with a skin graft. It wasn’t a long procedure and it wasn’t particularly dangerous. He was out, under anesthetic for a little under an hour and woke up totally fine… You could even say better than fine! He seems to thrive on the sleepy juice.

Meanwhile, another friend had gone in for similar surgery last year. She was the same age at the time however her surgery was fraught with complications and she made a very slow, very tedious recovery.

The problem is, that despite both of these friends were incredibly healthy and fit, neither were overweight, neither smoke and neither drink (too much), a surgery small and insignificant for one became a big problem for another.

So at what point does surgery become too much of a risk, and not worth the reward?

Dr Zoe Stewart of the University of Cambridge told Starts at 60 that the choice to have surgery or not is entirely up to the individual “any procedure needs to be carefully weighted against the potential benefits for an individual”.

There is no way to pin point at what age different surgeries become too much of a risk. As Dr Stewart says, “The chance of a bad outcome for a procedure certainly increases with age, but that relationship is gradual and to set specific cut off points based on age would be arbitrary”. However there are some risk factors around baseline health that can give people and indication of their risk.

The risk factors that can influence your chance of successful surgery include:

– Cholesterol levels

– Previous health history

– Current medication intake

– Blood pressure

– Weight

– General fitness

The other factor that people need to weigh up is personal risk versus reward. Dr Stewart explained this by saying, “For some patients a 50% risk of death for a hip replacement would seem an unreasonable risk, and yet for others, the chance of eliminating severe pain and being able to walk again would be well worth the risk”.

So it comes down to the personal decision of, “by how much would successful surgery influence my quality of life?”. For some people living with severe pain, making a decision like this is simple because their quality of life is so poor and any chance to improve it is a welcome chance, irrespective of the risk.

The heartbreaking thing is that no matter how simple the procedure, age becomes a strong influence and as we sadly saw with Joan Rivers last week, something as small as vocal cord surgery caused the heart attack which lead to her tragic death.

Anaesthetics and loss of place the body under stress as it has a limited capacity to function, and is more risky as you age. This is why the risk is present.

When people have elective surgery, like plastic surgery at older ages, it carries all of the same risks. Dr Ashley Granot, a cosmetic surgeon from Me Clinic, told us that surgeries that are prolonged or have many different stages that put the body under prolonged stress are the most dangerous to older people.

As Dr Stewart advised, it always comes down to personal choice, but weighing up the risk versus reward is a risky thing in itself.

Have you had to weigh up the risk of elective, routine surgery? Did you have the operation? How did it change your life? Was it worth it? Tell us in the comments below…