SURGERY in the aged patient is rapidly becoming commonplace and with the continuing population pattern more people will live into the seventh and eighth decades and develop those conditions for which surgery is indicated. In a previous study2from our hospital, we reported a three-year review (1957-1960) of major surgery performed on a group of patients 75 years old and older. This present paper is a continuation study which lends itself to comparison in many aspects. In the period from April 30, 1960, to Dec 31, 1961, a total of 370majorsurgical procedures were performed on patients whose minimum age was 75 years and whose average age was 82.6 years (previous series reported was 369 procedures). The Department of Anesthesiology at Evanston Hospital, composed of six anesthesiologists with a wide range of experience and competence, prefers general or spinal anesthesia even for poor-risk patients. There were 362 procedures