Emergency coronary and peripheral arteries combined with percutaneous intervention in the elderly: success or therapeutic excess?. (September 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Pepe, Martino; Furgieri, Alessandro; Miranda, Marianna; Cafaro, Alessandro; Paradies, Valeria; Iacovelli, Fortunato; Castriota, Fausto; Liso, Armando
• Is Part Of: Future cardiology. Volume 11:Number 5(2015)
• Page Start: 521
• Page End: 524
• Publication Date: 2015-09
• Subjects: acute coronary syndrome -- acute peripheral artery disease -- elderly patients -- percutaneous intervention; Cardiology -- Research -- Periodicals; 616.12005
• DOI: 10.2217/fca.15.52
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1479-6678

Abstract

Acute lower extremities peripheral artery disease represents a clinical emergency. Peripheral artery disease incidence ranges from 2.5 to 22% and has progressively increased due to the world population aging phenomenon and associates with coronary artery disease with a rate of 40–60%. The authors present the case of an 89-year-old man coming to their attention with acute lower extremities ischemia and unstable angina. Despite the short-to-midterm favorable outcome, doubts remain about the opportunity of treating 'very old' patients. The lack of dedicated randomized trials and of defined guidelines is a problem the scientific community needs to face considering that patients over 85 years represent a raising quote of the whole population of our catheterization laboratories.