+1-617-394-8820 contact@baybiosciences.com

Bronchoscopy, Procedure, Uses and Risks

by | Mar 9, 2022 | Info | 0 comments

Bronchoscopy Overview

A bronchoscopy is a medical test that lets doctors look into the patients lungs and airways. The procedure uses a thin tube with a small camera and light at the end. The doctor inserts it through the patients nose or mouth, down the throat into the lungs.

Bronchoscopy allows a doctor to examine the inside of the lungs, including the bronchi, which are the main pathways into the lungs. The doctor can use the findings to diagnose infections, tumors, or diseases in the lungs.

The bronchoscopy procedure uses one of the following two types of instruments known as bronchoscopes:

  • A flexible bronchoscope
  • Or a rigid bronchoscope

The flexible type is more common and can be used in an office setting after administering relaxing medication.

A numbing drug (anesthetic) will be sprayed in the patients mouth and throat. If bronchoscopy is done through the nose, numbing jelly will be placed in the nostril the tube goes through.

The rigid type is used if you have bleeding in your lungs or a large object is obstructing your airways. A rigid bronchoscopy is performed in a hospital setting under anesthesia.

The bronchoscope has a light source and a camera on the end. Most bronchoscopes are compatible with color video, which helps your doctor document their findings.


Uses of Bronchoscopy

Doctors use bronchoscopy to detect the cause of breathing difficulties and lung problems, such as tumors, infection, and bleeding.

During the procedure, a doctor may also insert stents in the airways or take a biopsy, which involves removing a small sample of tissue for testing.

A doctor may recommend a bronchoscopy to:

  • Assess damage after someone has inhaled chemicals or toxic gases
  • Check for lung rejection, following a transplant
  • Determine why the patient is coughing up blood
  • Explore the reason for shortness of breath
  • Follow up on a scan that has indicated a lung infection or tumor, or a collapsed lung
  • Look at lymph nodes near the lungs
  • Investigate the cause of a chronic cough
  • Look for blockages in the airways
  • Take a biopsy

Doctors also use bronchoscopies to treat certain conditions, for example, by:

  • Draining an abscess
  • removing fluid, mucus plugs, or foreign objects in the airways
  • Treating Cancer
  • Widening a blocked or narrowed airway

Procedure of Bronchoscopy

Most patients stay awake during a bronchoscopy procedure. Before the procedure, a doctor sprays a local anesthetic into the nose and throat to numb the area. Many people also take a sedative to help them relax.

Doctors only recommend a general anesthetic in rare cases, when they will be using a rigid bronchoscope.

Once the anesthetic takes effect, your doctor will normally insert a flexible bronchoscope tube through the nose and throat and into the bronchi. As the tube moves into the lungs, a person may feel a pressing or tugging sensation.

Some patients initially cough or gag, but this usually subsides quickly. A doctor may administer oxygen throughout the procedure may to aid breathing.

The bronchoscope’s light and camera helps the doctor to see the airways clearly, even around bends.

If a doctor needs to insert a stent or take a biopsy, they can pass brushes, needles, and other instruments through a channel in the bronchoscope. A stent is a small tube that helps to keep blocked or narrow airways open.

A doctor sometimes sprays a saline solution through the airways, in a process called bronchial washing, or lavage, to collect cells and fluids. The doctor will later examine them under a microscope.

During the bronchoscopy, a doctor may take an ultrasound, to get a clearer picture of the lymph nodes and tissues in and around the bronchi.

Once the doctors are finished checking the airways, they will remove the bronchoscope. The procedure usually takes 20–30 minutes, although times can vary, depending on the number of examinations and the underlying issue. Most patients can return home on the day of the procedure.


Preparation for Bronchoscopy Procedure

Your doctor will advice to avoid eating or drinking for a specified period (usually 6 to 12 hours) before performing the bronchoscopy procedure.

Be sure to review a list of all medications you take, including prescriptions, over the counter, vitamins, and herbal supplements with your doctor. Before the procedure, you may need to need to stop taking the following medications:

  • Aspirin 
  • Ibuprofen (such as Advil)
  • Warfarin
  • Other blood thinners

The patient would need to make arrangements for a ride to and from the hospital, because it is not safe to drive after taking sedatives. To allow time for recovery, the patient would need to organize help with work and other daily responsibilities such as childcare.


Recovery from a Bronchoscopy Procedure

A bronchoscopy is relatively quick and painless procedure, it usually lasts between 30 to 45 minutes. Because the patient is typically sedated, they’ll rest at the hospital for a couple of hours until he or she feel more awake and the numbness in the throat wears off.

Patients breathing and vital signs, including the blood pressure, heart rate, and oxygen levels, will be monitored during the recovery process. The patients mouth and throat may be numb, but that’ll wear off in a few hours.

The patient will not be be able to eat or drink anything after the bronchoscopy procedure, until their throat is no longer numb and they can swallow normally.

This can take between 1 to 2 hours. The throat might feel sore or scratchy for a couple of days, and the voice may be hoarse. This is normal, and it usually doesn’t last long and goes away without any treatment or medication.


Diagnosis and Results of a Bronchoscopy Procedure

After the patients medications wear off, the doctor may share what they saw during the procedure. Other results, including those of a biopsy, can take several days or weeks to arrive.

Normal results of a bronchoscopy mean that the doctor did not see any foreign materials, blockages, or unusual cells or fluids in the bronchi. That means the lungs are healthy and there are no problems with the bronchial tubes or alveoli, (which are air sacs). It also mean you have clear secretions that are free of infection.

If results are abnormal, the doctor will recommend further tests or treatments, depending on the outcome.

Abnormal results can indicate one or more of the following issues:

A number of other following different health problems can also indicate abnormal results, such as:

The doctor will recommend next steps and the available treatment options after reviewing the bronchoscopy results.


Risks and Complications of a Bronchoscopy Procedure

 

Bronchoscopy procedure is usually safe, but there are certain risks.

There is a small chance that the patients may develop the following:

  • An abnormal heartbeat (arrhythmia)
  • Breathing difficulties
  • Fever
  • Infection
  • Low blood oxygen levels during the bronchoscopy procedure
  • Minor bleeding, especially after a biopsy
  • Pneumonia

Also, a patient with a history of heart disease may have an increased risk of heart failure.

Rarely, a bronchoscopy can cause a lung to collapse, which is called pneumothorax. This happens if the lung is punctured during the procedure. It is more likely if a doctor is using a rigid rather than a flexible scope.

Pneumothorax is serious and requires treatment. A doctor may perform a chest X-ray after a bronchoscopy to check the lungs for signs of collapse.

When a person has general anesthesia, additional risks include:

 

Bay Biosciences is a global leader in providing researchers with high quality, clinical grade, fully characterized human tissue samples, bio-specimens, and human bio-fluid collections.

Samples available include cancer (tumor) tissue, cancer serum, cancer plasma, cancer, peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC). and human tissue samples from most other therapeutic areas and diseases.

Bay Biosciences maintains and manages its own biorepository, the human tissue bank (biobank) consisting of thousands of diseased samples (specimens) and from normal healthy donors available in all formats and types.

Our biobank procures and stores fully consented, deidentified and institutional review boards (IRB) approved human tissue samples and matched controls.

All our human tissue collections, human specimens and human bio-fluids are provided with detailed, samples associated patient’s clinical data.

This critical patient’s clinical data includes information relating to their past and current disease, treatment history, lifestyle choices, biomarkers, and genetic information.

Patient’s data is extremely valuable for researchers and is used to help identify new effective treatments (drug discovery & development) in oncology, and other therapeutic areas and diseases.

Bay Biosciences banks wide variety of human tissue samples and biological samples, including cryogenically preserved at – 80°C.

Including fresh frozen tissue samples, tumor tissue samples, formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE), tissue slides, with matching human bio-fluids, whole blood and blood-derived products such as serum, plasma and PBMC.

Bay Biosciences is a global leader in collecting and providing human tissue samples according to the specified requirements and customized, tailor-made collection protocols.

Please contact us anytime to discuss your special research projects and customized human tissue sample requirements.

Bay Biosciences provides human tissue samples (human specimens) from diseased and normal healthy donors which includes:

We can also procure most human bio-specimens, special collections and requests for human samples that are difficult to find. All our human tissue samples are procured through IRB-approved clinical protocols and procedures.

In addition to the standard processing protocols, Bay Biosciences can also provide human plasma, serum, and PBMC bio-fluid samples using custom processing protocols; you buy donor-specific collections in higher volumes and specified sample aliquots from us.

Bay Biosciences also provides human samples from normal healthy donors; volunteers, for controls and clinical research, contact us Now.

日本のお客様は、ベイバイオサイエンスジャパンBay Biosciences Japanまたはhttp://baybiosciences-jp.com/contact/までご連絡ください。