Book excerpt: This book is designed to present a comprehensive and state-of the-art approach to all aspects of geriatric surgery within the broad confines of surgery in geriatrics including general surgery, neurosurgery, thoracic surgery, vascular surgery, cardiac surgery, surgical oncology, hepatobiliary and transplant surgery, plastic, colorectal, orthopedic, gynecologic, and urologic surgery. The text is split into four parts. The first part is organized under general considerations on the geriatric surgical patient and includes current trends in geriatric surgery, and a number of important general issues such as practical approaches to reversal of bleeding/anticoagulation, role of anesthetic concerns in advanced age, frailty index and measurements of physiological reserves, nutritional support in the elderly, quality of life in the elderly, drug use, and family involvement. Part two of the book focuses on surgery specific system-based problems in geriatric surgical patients. The third part addresses many other important aspects of geriatric surgery including palliative and end of life care for the elderly, religious issues and the elderly care surgery, elderly with mental health issues, and nursing care of elderly patients. The fourth and final part describes the need for geriatric surgical care education and the components that are essential for the curriculum of current and future generations of students. Written by experts in the field, Surgical Decision Making in Geriatrics addresses patient selection, pre-operative considerations, technical conduct of the most common operations, and avoiding complications.