ABSTRACT
Background: Flexible fiber optic bronchoscopy is frequently performed procedure in pulmonary medicine
Objective: To determine the Clinico-radiological indications of flexible bronchoscopy in a tertiary care hospital
Materials and Methods: This descriptive study was conducted in the bronchoscopy suit of pulmonology department post graduate medical institute[PGMI], Lady Reading Hospital, Peshawar from Jan 2008 to Dec 2010. This was a retrospective analysis of the well maintained records of patients in whom bronchoscopy was done in the above mentioned duration. All the patients above 15 years were included. All the bronchoscopies were done by expert brochoscopists under local aneasthesia. Data was analyzed by SPSS 13 to find the frequencies and percentages
Results: Total number of patients were 423, with a male to female ratio of 1.6:1, in which 191 had haemoptysis , 115 presented with chronic cough, 42 had shortness of breath [SOB] , 11 presented as superior venacaval [SVC] obstruction, 25 had lobar or full lung collapse on chest x rays and 9 patients had solitary or multiple nodules, 8 were scoped for removal of foreign bodies, 4 for medical fitness and 2 for persisted fever. After analysis of x-rays of proven malignancies out of 60 patients, 20 [33.33%] had right side non-resolving consolidation, 18 [30%] Left side consolidation,08 [13.4%] presented with hilar mass, 03 [5%] with multiple nodules, 04 [6.66%] with mediastinal widening , 03 [5%], with left sided lobar collapse, 02 [3.33%] with right lobar Collapse and 02 [3.33%] had either side full lung collapse
Conclusion: Bronchoscopy is an important tool for the diagnosis of the cause of radiological/clinical findings like haemoptysis, chronic cough, SOB, SVC obstruction, hoarseness of voice and persistent x-ray opacity, or lobar or lung collapse. Heamoptysis and chronic cough are the main indications in our setting. Bronchoscopy is minimally invasive procedure with high diagnostic yield for bronchogenic tumours especially central