Elderly patients with symptomatic cardiac valvular malfunction have a grave prognosis if managed medically but can be offered a reasonable chance for long-term survival and a good chance for improvement by replacement of the malfunctioning valve. A series of patients 75 years of age and older who underwent aortic valve replacement (31 patients) mitral valve replacement (9 patients), or combined valve replacement (on patient) has been reviewed. The overall operative mortality for aortic valve replacement was 23% (17% over the past 5 years) and the 5-year actuarial survival was 54 +/- 11%. The operative mortality for mitral replacement was 11% and the 5-year actuarial survival was 55 +/- 21%. The average hospital stay for survivors was 19 days after aortic valve replacement. Four patients have had embolic events since valve replacement, 3 after aortic and one after mitral valve replacement. The addition of coronary artery bypass surgery to the valve replacement procedure is becoming more frequent and may have contributed to improved operative survival. A literature review of reported clinical experience shows that the advancement of cardiac surgery has permitted a redefining of the group thought as "elderly", and that this group has an improved operative survival with the improvements in cardiac valve surgery.