Objective To evaluate the diagnostic value and safety of endobronchial ultrasoundguided transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA) in elderly patients with bronchogenic carcinoma.Methods From August,2013 and July,2014,31 patients aged 65 years and over with space-occupying mass and enlarged mediastinal lymph nodes detected by CT or positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET-CT) underwent EBUS-TBNA.Rapid onsite cytology evaluation was not performed.Results There were 26 males and 5 females in this study,aged 65-77 years (70.1 years old on average).In 31 patients,70 samples were obtained from lymph nodes (LNs) and 4 samples were obtained from intrapulmonary lesions.29 cases were diagnosed as lung cancer,and 2 cases had false-negative diagnoses.The sensitivity and specificity rates of EBUS-guided TBNA method were 93.6％ and 100.0％,respectively.No major complications were observed in this series.Conclusions EBUS-TBNA is an safe and effective method in diagnosing bronchogenic carcinoma in elderly patients.

ObjectiveTo observe the in-hospital and long-term results in patients with drugeluting stenting age≥70 years with unprotected left main (UML) coronary artery disease.MethodsIn this retrospective study, 100 patients with UML disease were enrolled. Death, myocardial infarction, repeated revascularization and composite end points during follow-up were compared between groups aged ≥70 years and control aged ＜70 years.ResultsThere was no remarkable distinction between the two groups in cardiovascular risk factors, anatomic findings of coronary artery disease and stent variables. No significant differences were found between the two groups in procedure success rate[96.2％ (50 cases) vs. 97.9％ (47 cases) ,x2 = 1.75, P＞0.05] and in-hospital mortality [3.8％ (2 cases) vs. 2.1％ ( 1 case), x2 = 0.27, P ＞0.05]. Patients were clinically followed for an average time of 22.0 months in the elderly group and 23.0 months in the control group (t= -0.78, P＞0.05). There were no significant differences in death[3.9％(2 cases) vs. 2.1％(1 case) ,x2 =2.51,P＞0.05], myocardial infarction[7.7 ％ (4 cases) vs. 4.2 ％ (2 cases), x2 = 0.55, P＞0.05], repeated revascularization [13.5％ (7 cases) vs. 12.5％(6 cases) ,x2 =0.02, P＞0.05]and composite endpoints of death, myocardial infarction and repeated revascularization[30.7％ (16 cases)vs. 18.8％ (9 cases),x2 = 1.92, P＞0.05] between the elderly group and the control group.ConclusionsThe procedure success rate and in-hospital mortality of drug-eluting stent implantation in elderly patients aged≥70 years old with unprotected left main coronary artery are comparable to group aged＜70 years. The main endpoints including death, myocardial infarction and repeated revascularization are favorable at about 2 years clinical follow up. It is safe and efficacious to implant drug-eluting stent in patients aged ≥70 years old with unprotected left main coronary artery.

Objective To investigate the clinical characteristics and prognosis of acute myocardial infarction(AMI) patients with gastrointestinal bleeding (GIB) in the elderly.Methods Total 325 elderly patients with AMI were divided into AMI control group (n=304,patients without gastrointestinal bleeding around the period of AMI),GIB-post-AMI (n=14,patients developing gastrointestinal bleeding after AMI) group and AMI-post-GIB (n=7,patients with gastrointestinal bleeding subsequently suffered an AMI) group.The clinical characteristics and combined end points of cardiovascular death and hospitalization for recurrent angina pectoris,non-lethal AMI,heart failure and stroke were analysed.Results (1) Estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) became lower in the patients with GIB-post-MI (61.9+27.3) ml · min-1 · 1.73 m2 compared with AMI control patients (77.3+27.9) ml · min-1 · 1.73 m2,P＜0.05.Multivariate regression analysis revealed that the relative risk from a decreased eGFR for developing gastrointestinal bleeding after AMI in elderly patients was 0.980 (95％CI:0.960-0.999,P＜0.05).(2) There were significantly less patients adopting anti-platelet and anti-coagulant medications in AMI-post-GIB group and less patients applying aspirin in GIB-post-AMI group as compared with AMI control group,respectively (P＜0.05).AMIpost-GIB patients had significantly lower hemoglobin (74 + 14) g/L than GIB-post-AMI patients (111±25) g/L,P＜0.01.More MI-post-GIB patients (6 cases,85.7％) versus GIB-post-AMI patients (4 cases,28.6％)underwent blood transfusion( P＜0.05).There were significantly less patients adopting PCI and thrombolytic therapy in AMI-post-GIB group as compared to AMI control patients (P＜0.01).(3) The combined end points of cardiovascular death and hospitalization for recurrent angina pectoris,non-lethal MI,heart failure and stroke in GIB-post-MI group were significantly higher than in AMI control group[42.9％ (6/14) vs.17.8％ (54/304),P＜0.05].Conclusions Reduced eGFR is an important predictor for elderly AMI patients developing gastrointestinal bleeding which makes it difficult to take anti-platelet and anti-coagulant medication and to receive revascularization treatment,usually with worse prognosis.