Evaluation of Preoperative Pulmonary Gas Exchanges in the Elderly Patients Over the Age of 65

Lee, Guie-Young

doi:10.12771/emj.1996.19.4.517

Ewha Med J 1996; 19(4):517-520

pISSN: 1598-7450

DOI: https://doi.org/10.12771/emj.1996.19.4.517

Original Article

Evaluation of Preoperative Pulmonary Gas Exchanges in the Elderly Patients Over the Age of 65

Guie-Young Lee

Author Information & Copyright ▼

Department of Anesthesiology, College of Medicine, Ewha Womans University, Korea.

Copyright ⓒ 1996. Ewha Womans University School of Medicine. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Published Online: Jul 24, 2015

Abstract

Objectives

As the number of elderly people rises, the incidence of surgery in elderly patients would become higher. This study was undertaken to examine the changes in pulmonary gas exchange that occurs with advancing age.

Methods

Arterial blood gases were analysed in 106 elderly patients over the age of 65 and 40 adult patients(control group) during breathing of room air preoperatively. Alveolar oxygen partial pressure(PAO₂), alveolar-arterial partial pressure gradient for oxygen(AaDO₂), arterial/alveolar oxygen partial pressure(a/A) ratio were calculated using PaO₂ and PaCO₂ and PAO₂ and measured the relationship between the PaO₂ and age.

Results

PaO₂ declined as age increased significantly and the regression equation was PaO₂=103.6-0/332×age(r=0.55). There was no significant difference in PaCO₂ and PAO₂ but AaDO₂ increased and a/A ratio decreased significantly.

Conclusions

As the AaDO₂ and a/A ratio were changed significantly, it is necessary for monitoring of oxygenation during perioperative periods in elderly patients.

Keywords: Elderly; Gas exchange; Oxygen