Objective:

The study aims to retrospectively determine and prevent the causes of perioperative complications that occurs among geriatric patients who are exposed to regional anesthesia.

Material and Methods:

The records were investigated for patient’s age, gender, physical evaluation scores of the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA), type of surgery, regional anesthesia technique, the local anesthetic types, duration of surgery and anesthesia related complications as well as the most likely systems to which these complications were related. The cardiac arrests were also recorded.Patients were grouped according to their ages; Group Y (over 65 years) and Group G (17-65 years).

Results:

The 1114 patients were analysed from the anesthesia assesment forms and records. According to ASA classification, the rate of hypotension showed an increase from I to IV for group G (p<0.001) and group Y (p<0.001), whereas there was no difference between the groups (p>0.05). The frequency of cardiovascular complications with respect to duration of surgery was significantly higher in longer operations (>60 minutes) than in shorter operations (<60 minutes) in group G than in group Y ((p<0.05). Regional anesthesia technique related cardiovascular complications occured more often with spinal anesthesia in group G than in group Y (p<0.001). With heavy bupivacaine, bradycardia occurred more often in group G than in group Y (p<0.001). Three cardiac arrests occurred in the group Y, but there were no cardiac arrests in group G.

Conclusion:

In the elderly, all anesthesia techniques have their own complication rates so the anesthetic technique should be selected according to patients’ co-morbidities, with careful preanesthetic evaluation and close monitoring in experienced hands.

Keywords: geriatri, anesthesia, epidural, spinal, complications