Clinical Analysis of 68 Elderly Patients with Bronchial Tuberculosis

Objective:To study the features of clinical symptoms,chest X-ray manifestation and pathologic alteration by fibrobronchoscopy in elderly patients with bronchial tuberculosis.Methods:We analysed retrospectively the clinical data of 68 bronchial tuberculosis patients (range 60～86 years old)enrolled form July,1981 to October,2002. Results:15.7% of 432 patitents with bronchial tuberculosis were the elderly.Cough was a chief symptom(88.2%).The chest radiographs of bronchial tuberculosis patients presented basically infiltrative flaky opacities (41.2%) and atelectatic opacities (35.3%).Among 68 patients with bronchial tuberculosis,42.7% had inflammatory infiltration,38.2% had scaring stenosis by bronchoscopy,85.3% showed the positive result in acid-fast staining by bronchoscopic brushing smear,30.9% showed the positive pathologic results by bronchoscopy.Conclusions:The symptom and the chest radiographs of bronchial tuberculosis in the elderly are non-specific.Fibrobronchoscopic brushing examination for acid-fast bacillus and bronchial biopsy are principial method in establishing the definitive diagnosis of bronchial tuberculosis in the elderly.