The growing role of flexible therapheuticbroncoscopy

Interventional pulmonology procedures have been performed traditionally with rigid bronchoscopy (RB), however flexible bronchoscopy (FB) is now on the rise. Sample of therapeutic bronchoscopies (TB) performed between 2017-2018 (n=57) predominantly in males (84%), with a mean age of 61.3 years. Most frequent indications were: central airway desobstructive treatment (DT) (n=16), endobronchial (E) brachytherapy (n=16), location and endoscopic closure of bronchopleural fistula (n=10), distal airway DT (n=5) and endobronchial foreign bodies extraction (n=3).77% of the procedures were performed exclusively with FB -group A-, while the remaining 23% -group B- used combined procedures of RB + FB. No statistically significant differences were found neither between the procedure success nor the complications when comparing the E treatment and the type of BT performed (p<0.05). Table 1. Invasive mechanical ventilation was required in 64.9% (n=37) of TB: conventional orotracheal intubation (40%) -mean orotracheal diameter 7.88mm-, mechanical ventilation through RB (35%) or laryngeal mask i-gel (25%). In group A, simultaneous progression of FB alongside orotracheal tube was necessary to ensure correct oxygenation during the procedure in 7 cases (16%).FB is an excellent tool for E T treatment with an adequate safety profile in the hands of an expert bronchoscopist who which can avoid invasive mechanical ventilation and general anesthesia in 40% of cases, reducing costs and further compl...
Source: European Respiratory Journal - Category: Respiratory Medicine Authors: Tags: Interventional pulmonology Source Type: research