Contemporary outcome of cardiac catheterizations in 1085 consecutive octogenarians

Background: A growing number of patients, ≥80 years require cardiac catheterization. Since little is known about the overall safety of these procedures in this population, we assessed the procedure-related risks and determined predictors for complications. Methods: We studied 1085 consecutive patients ≥80 years (82.6±2.6 years; 526 males, 544 females), who underwent 1384 cardiac catheterizations in a tertiary specialist university hospital (3% of 43 517 procedures). Results: A total of 373 patients (35%) required percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI), and 331 (31%) received coronary artery bypass surgery. Thirty-one patients died during hospital stay. Procedure-related complications including vascular injuries occurred in 2.1% after CATH and 11.6% after PCI. Conclusions: Despite the widespread notion that cardiac catheterization exposes patients ≥80 years to an unwarranted risk, these data demonstrate an acceptable complication rate. Patients ≥80 years of age should thus not be refused to undergo cardiac catheterization merely based on their age.