Gastrointestinal endoscopy in patients aged 75 years and older: risks, complications, and findings--a retrospective study.

Purpose: Endoscopy of the gastrointestinal tract offers simultaneously diagnostic and therapeutic options and is increasingly performed in elderly patients due to a continuously growth of this population segment. Whereas safety data of diagnostic and interventional endoscopy in patients younger than 65 years are well characterized, only scarce data exist for elderly patients older than 75 years.

Methods: We analyzed outcomes and complications of endoscopic procedures with focus on colonoscopy in patients aged 75 and older at a single tertiary referral center in Germany between 1996 and 2006.