Pediatr Allergy Respir Dis.  2011 Dec;21(4):313-318.

Pediatric Flexible Bronchoscopy: Clinical Experience of 100 Cases of Bronchoscopy from a Single Institute

• Moon CJ
• Lee EJ
• Chun YH
• Yoon JS
• Kim HH
• Lee JS

Abstract

PURPOSE
Flexible bronchoscopy is effectively used in the diagnosis and treatment of respiratory diseases in children. This report attempted to analyze the indication, effectiveness, and complications of bronchoscopy in children who visited a single tertiary care, university-based hospital in Korea.
METHODS
A retrospective review was conducted of the medical records of a total of 100 cases of flexible bronchoscopy that were performed at the Department of Pediatrics of the Catholic University of Korea Seoul St. Mary's Hospital from April 8, 2007 to June 16, 2010.
RESULTS
A total of 85 patients (48 males and 37 females) were involved in the study. The range in age was 5 days old to 18 years old. Eighty cases were for diagnosis, 7 cases for treatment, and 13 cases for both. The purpose of flexible bronchoscopy was accomplished in 67 of 100 cases. In 60 cases where bronchoalveolar lavage was provided, microbial organisms were identified in 38 cases. Minor complications were observed in 12 cases.
CONCLUSION
Pediatric flexible bronchoscopy is shown to be an effective and safe diagnostic and interventional tool, even in young or immunocompromised hosts. This study also found that children under one year of age were more frequently treated with bronchoscopy and that the detection rate in microbiological diagnosis was improved due to the introduction of the virus polymerase chain reaction method.

Keyword

Pediatrics; Flexible; Bronchoscopy

MeSH Terms

Bronchoalveolar Lavage
Bronchoscopy
Child
Humans
Immunocompromised Host
Korea
Male
Medical Records
Pediatrics
Polymerase Chain Reaction
Retrospective Studies
Tertiary Healthcare
Viruses

Reference

References

1. Nussbaum E. Pediatric fiberoptic bronchoscopy: clinical experience with 2,836 bronchoscopies. Pediatr Crit Care Med. 2002; 3:171–6.

2. Tang LF, Chen ZM. Fiberoptic bronchoscopy in neonatal and pediatric intensive care units: a 5-year experience. Med Princ Pract. 2009; 18:305–9.

3. Efrati O, Sadeh-Gornik U, Modan-Moses D, Ba-rak A, Szeinberg A, Vardi A, et al. Flexible bronchoscopy and bronchoalveolar lavage in pediatric patients with lung disease. Pediatr Crit Care Med. 2009; 10:80–4.

4. Kim CK, Chung CY. Usefulness of the flexible bronchoscopy for pediatric respiratory diseases. J Korean Pediatr Soc. 1999; 42:783–9.

5. Kim KW. Clinical applications of pediatric bronchoscopy in pediatric pulmonary diseases. Pediatr Allergy Respir Dis(Korea). 2000; 10:233–41.

6. Kabra SK, Lodha R, Ramesh P, Sarthi M. Fiberoptic bronchoscopy in children an audit from a tertiary care center. Indian Pediatr. 2008; 45:917–9.

7. Davidson MG, Coutts J, Bell G. Flexible bronchoscopy in pediatric intensive care. Pediatr Pulmonol. 2008; 43:1188–92.

8. Efrati O, Gonik U, Bielorai B, Modan-Moses D, Neumann Y, Szeinberg A, et al. Fiberoptic bronchoscopy and bronchoalveolar lavage for the evaluation of pulmonary disease in children with primary immunodeficiency and cancer. Pediatr Blood Cancer. 2007; 48:324–9.