[Evaluation of respiratory tract disease accompanying malignant lymphoma in the elderly]

We studied the usefulness of bronchoscopy in the diagnosis of pulmonary complications in elderly patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL). The subjects were 12 patients 65 or older with NHL. Two of these patients underwent transbronchial lung biopsies (TBLB), all of them underwent bronchiolavage (BAL) and 2 with tumors underwent transbronchial biopsies of the tumors. Diagnosis was obtained in 8 out of 12 patients (66.7%). Two patients showed infiltration of lymphoma cells, 2 had cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection, 1 had pneumocystosis (P. carinii), 2 had fungal infections and 1 had a bacterial infection. TBLB was performed in 2 patients with platelet counts of over 5 x 10(4)/microliters. Lymphoma cell infiltration was diagnosed in one of these patients and a fungal infection in the other. BAL was performed on all patients. CMV was detected in 2 cases by the PCR method, P. carinii was detected in 1 case and aspergillus in 1 case. Klebsiella pneumonia was diagnosed in 1 patient. Since respiratory tract complications are often serious in NHL and the prognosis depends on early diagnosis and treatment, it is important to perform bronchoscopy on elderly patients and obtain a definitive diagnosis.