Dispelling myths regarding the safety of 'bronchoscopy in octogenerians'.

摘要

SIR-Bronchoscopy is an important diagnostic and therapeutic tool used for the management of respiratory conditions in older patients [1]. The advent of 'interventional' techniques continues to develop and older patients should not be precluded from access to such medical advances arising from unsubstantiated risks of complications associated with the procedure [2]. Therefore, we believe consideration of some of the recent issues highlighted in Age Ageing by Rokach et al. [3] merit further consideration.Rokach et al. report several issues in their large series of patients, both older and younger, undergoing bronchoscopy. However, we feel that they may leave the reader with the impression that bronchoscopy in octogenarians is more frequently prone to complications than is commonly the case in clinical practice.