To observe the efficacy of Tanreqing injection combined with bronchoalveolar lavage via bronchoscopy in the treatment of severe pneumonia in elderly patients.

A total of 108 elderly patients with severe pneumonia admitted to the Second Hospital of Tianjin Medical University from June 2022 to June 2025 were selected and randomly divided into a control group and an observation group using a random number table method, with 54 cases in each group. The control group was treated with bronchoalveolar lavage via bronchoscopy, while the observation group was treated with Tanreqing injection combined with bronchoalveolar lavage via bronchoscopy. The efficacy, pulmonary function, arterial blood gas, inflammatory response, and adverse reactions were compared between the two groups. T test was used to compared the measurement data, Chi-square test was used to compared the count data.

The total effective rate in the observation group was significantly higher than that in the control group (χ²=6.000, P < 0.05). After treatment, the levels of forced expiratory volume in one second, peak expiratory flow, forced vital capacity, arterial oxygen saturation, and partial pressure of arterial oxygen in the observation group were higher than those in the control group (t=3.491, 3.032, 3.414, 7.914, 7.107; P < 0.01), while the levels of residual volume/total lung capacity, partial pressure of arterial carbon dioxide, procalcitonin, C-reactive protein, and white blood cell were lower than those in the control group (t=5.051, 10.913, 4.933, 7.730, 5.421; P < 0.01). The recovery time of clinical signs, sputum culture conversion time, and inflammatory lesion absorption time in the observation group were significantly shorter than those in the control group (t=5.257, 7.391, 6.762; P < 0.05).

Tanreqing injection combined with bronchoalveolar lavage via bronchoscopy in the treatment of severe pneumonia in elderly patients can alleviate pulmonary inflammation, improve clinical symptoms, arterial blood gas, and pulmonary function.