Decreasing mortality for coronary artery bypass surgery in octogenarians.

Background: Octogenarians are the fastest growing population in Canada and have also been referred for coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) with increasing frequency during the past decade.

Objective: To examine the changing trends in preoperative risk profiles, postoperative outcomes and hospital resource use in the octogenarian population.

Methods: A retrospective review was conducted to identify all patients 80 years of age or older who underwent isolated CABG at the Toronto General Hospital (Toronto, Ontario) between 1990 and June 2005.