The economic burden of emergency abdominal surgery in the Elderly: what is the role of Laparoscopy?

The elderly might differ from the general population when facing surgery, due to their lack of reserve, comorbidities and other frailty conditions. This is also related to the emergency abdominal surgery. Considering that almost half of all emergency surgical procedures are performed in the elderly and given the increasing ageing population, an analysis of the implications of the economic burden of emergency abdominal surgery in the elderly needs to be undertaken. To this regard, both direct and indirect costs that may emerge when the focus is on this specific group of patients are considered. Through a narrative literature review, this paper aims at identifying the economic consequences of emergency abdominal surgery in the elderly given the conventional procedures and the laparoscopy. The finding will shade lights on the role of the laparoscopy procedure and will contribute to raise the awareness about the need to undertake dedicated actions from the health professionals’ perspective as well as from the hospital managers’ one.