Safety and Efficacy of Flexible Endoscopy in Children With Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia

Flexible fiberoptic bronchoscopy – a bedside technique for neonatologists

“…Likewise, failure of weaning from ventilation has been associated with airway abnormalities such as stenoses, malacia, and granulation tissue has been described in infants with chronic lung disease of prematurity [12]. Clinical management has been reported to be directly affected by the results in almost half of the procedures [13].…”

Flexible bronchoscopy in pediatric intensive care

“…Broncho-alveolar lavage (BAL) was undertaken by a standardized and previously described technique of 1 ml/kg 0.9% saline. 2,3 Up to four BAL specimens were taken in each area with minimal dwell time with all specimens being separately cultured and results reported in a semi-quantitative fashion. Moderate to heavy bacterial growth, as reported by the microbiologist, of a single organism was taken as a significant finding.…”

Pediatric bronchoscopy

“…118 Sometimes foreign bodies or vascular malformations (e.g., Osler's syndrome, varices) are found, 119 or pulmonary hemosiderosis may be diagnosed via BAL analysis. 118 The usefulness of bronchoscopy in BPD has been described; 121 this report stated that management was somehow directly affected by the results of the procedure in 41%. 118 The usefulness of bronchoscopy in BPD has been described; 121 this report stated that management was somehow directly affected by the results of the procedure in 41%.…”

“…Recent papers have described a discrepancy in microbiological ®ndings between oropharyngeal and lower airway cultures which may be of clinical signi-®cance. 121 Currently, the use of bronchoscopy for therapeutic interventions in CF is not supported by the evidence, but it may have a role in diagnosis of infections. 123 It has been suggested that children may be treated according to their oropharyngeal culture, and bronchoscopic lower airway culture is performed if no rapid response to appropriate therapy is observed.…”