Flexible bronchoscopy in the elderly.

The established roles of flexible bronchoscopy in patients with diverse respiratory diseases, together with the demographic imperative posed by the aging of the population, make it important to understand factors relevant to this procedure in the elderly and to identify ways to optimize its performance. Relatively few investigations address specific influences of age on bronchoscopy but suggest that older patients age alone neither requires major modification of the approach nor introduces unacceptable hazards. The crucial relationships between bronchoscopy, the prevalence of specific respiratory diseases under consideration, and the impact of the procedure on patient management algorithms must be addressed in the future prospective investigations of the process of care in the elderly.