Ageism in cardiac surgery: is less really more?

The adage “less is more” directly applies to many aspects of medicine, and in particular, cardiac surgery. The older an individual patient, the higher a surgeon’s threshold is for performing a more extensive or complicated operation. When it comes to coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), this may mean leaving concomitant valve regurgitation unrepaired, bypassing fewer vessels, or using different conduits