This volume offers a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of the major surgical procedures performed on elderly patients.  With advancing age the conditions that require surgery normally increase in incidence, and today all surgeons around the globe can be considered "geriatric surgeons". The latest anesthesiological procedures, the technical improvements and an increased medical knowledge of the comorbities impact have brought extraordinary advances in this field, but this should not allow us to forget that a careful assessment of elderly patients is necessary before undertaking surgery, since also the simplest surgical procedures could alter the delicate psychophysical equilibrium of these "frail" patients.

Introduced by a demographic panorama and analysis, the book describes the anesthesiological management, the preoperative assessment and preparation, the perioperative care, and hemostasis control connected with the main surgical pathologies: gastrointestinal, endocrine, neoplastic, vascular and hepato-biliary, as well with traumatic and non-traumatic emergencies. It will be an invaluable, easy-to-use resource for clinicians, researchers and trainees alike.

Section 1: General Principles and Epidemiology: Aging from demography to epidemiology

Anestesiological management of elderly patients
Principles of Geriatric surgery
Perioperative management of elderly patients
Haemostasis and thrombosis in elderly patients
Section 2: Endocrine Surgery: Thyroid and parathyroid glands Breast cancer
Adrenal diseases and endocrine pancreas
Section 3: Gastrointestinal System: Benign esophageal  disease
Esophageal cancer
Cancer of the stomach
Inflammatory bowel disease. Diverticulosis and diverticulitis
Cancer of the colon and the rectum
Pelvic pavement disorders
Section 3: Vascular Disorders: Chronic peripheral arterial and cerebrovascular disease
Acute peripheral arterial disease. Aortic and peripheral aneurysms
Venous disorders of the legs
Section 4: Hepato-Biliary System: Gallbladder and biliary lithiasis
Cancer of the gallbladder and biliary tree
Benign and malignant tumors of the liver
Pancreatitis
Pancreatic tumors
Section 5: Abdominal Wall Defect and Soft Tissue Sarcoma: Primitive  hernias
Incisional hernias
Soft tissue sarcoma
Section 6: Trauma and Non Traumatic Emergencies: Trauma surgery
Non traumatic surgery
Bowel Obstructions
Acute Peritonitis
Upper and lower GI bleedings.