Diagnostic experience of flexible fiberoptic bronchoscopy in al-azhar university hospital

Abstract

Background Fiberoptic bronchoscopy (FB) is an endoscopic technique for visualizing the inside of the airway for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. FB is a simple, useful examination suitable for investigation without general anesthesia. Aim We aimed to report our 5-year experience with the diagnostic yield of FB at the Al-Azhar University Hospital. Patients and methods A retrospective review of bronchoscopy reports was performed at the Chest Department, El-Hussein University Hospital, Al-Azhar University, during the 5 years from January 2012 to December 2016. Data collected were encoded into MS Excel 2017 for windows XP professional. Age was presented as mean. Due to the descriptive nature of this study; all other data were presented as percentage. The calculation was done using Excel. Results Bronchoscopy was successful for giving a final diagnosis in 275 (78.6%) patients out of 350 patients. Of these, 190 patients were men and 160 patients were women. Malignancies were diagnosed in 66.3% of cases; tuberculosis was diagnosed in 2.8%; and interstitial lung diseases were diagnosed in 3.7% of cases. Conclusion FB can be performed easily in hospitals with appropriate preparation, observation, and attachment to protocol. This study confirms that FB is a valuable diagnostic tool, with low cost and low rates of complication, particularly in patients with lung cancer. Bronchoscopists face many challenges to reach the correct diagnosis of peripheral lung diseases. Some diagnostic bronchoscopies fail to reach the diagnosis, so bronchoscopy can be repeated or search for other diagnostic modalities. Bronchoscopy, performed under local anesthesia in the endoscopy suite, gives a solution in most cases with minimal complications. Recommendation Every pulmonologist should be aware and well trained in bronchoscopy.