[Appropriate medication prescribing in older people].

Drug-induced adverse effects are one of the main avoidable causes of hospitalization in older people. Numerous lists of potentially inappropriate medications for older people have been published, as national and international guidelines for appropriate prescribing in numerous diseases and for different age categories. The present review describes the general rules for an appropriate prescribing in older people and summarizes, for the main conditions encountered in older people, medications that are too often under-prescribed, the precautions of use of the main drugs that induce adverse effects, and drugs for which the benefit to risk ratio is unfavourable in older people.

[Radiation pneumonitis: a rare and potentially severe pneumonia. Usefulness of corticosteroids].

We report a 80-year-old woman who presented with asthenia, confusion and abdominal pain, leading to a diagnosis of severe pneumonia complicated by a colonic pseudo-obstruction. The unfavourable outcome with antibiotic treatment and a recent past medical history of thoracic radiotherapy pointed to a possible diagnosis of radiation pneumonitis. Absence of other explanation and the rapid improvement with corticosteroids confirmed this rare and potentially serious diagnosis, especially among elderly people.

[Usefulness of brain natriuretic peptide and N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide in the elderly].

B-type natriuretic peptide and N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide are biomarkers secreted both in response to myocardial stretch and increased ventricular wall stress. They are now largely used in cardiovascular disease in adults, especially as diagnostic and prognostic tools. This article aims at synthesizing existing data concerning the usefulness of natriuretic peptides in elderly patients.

Long-term outcomes after cryoablation for ventricular tachycardia during surgical treatment of anterior ventricular aneurysms.

Intraoperative map-guided procedures have been widely advocated as the best surgical strategy for the treatment of ventricular tachycardia (VT), though favorable results have been reported with subendocardial resection without mapping. This study examined the very long-term results of encircling cryoablation without mapping during surgery for anterior left ventricular aneurysm complicated by VT. Between 1985 and 2003, this procedure was performed in 52 patients, 7 of whom (13.