[Spine surgery in elderly: place and indication].

"Spine surgery in elderly: place and indication. The ageing affects every component of spine resulting in pain, balance disorders and loss of independence with acceleration of the general aging process. Surgery is possible facing to mechanical problems. Osteoporotic fractures can be cured by vertebroplasty. Opening vertebral canal is a common practice in stenosis, restoring a normal walk. Osteosynthesis of the spine is indicated in instability or in deformity and regularly used in metastasis. Disc arthroplasty can be discussed in uncodiscarthrosis. The progresses of anesthesiology and of the surgical techniques allow this practice. The patient operated gets up immediately generally without any brace. Minimal invasive surgery preserving soft tissues increases the indications. Spine surgery is too often forgotten by lack of diagnosis, in front of back pain, difficulty to walk and progressive deformity. We have to forget the terrible sentence: "There is nothing to be done because it is the spine, because the patient is too old."".