Comparison of cases who underwent bronchoscopy with the suspicion of foreign body aspiration before and during the Covid-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT

Background: To evaluate the effect of Covid-19 pandemic on clinical course and management of cases that underwent bronchoscopy for suspected foreign body aspiration (FBA) in children. Method(s) The patients underwent bronchoscopy with a presumptive diagnosis of FBA between July 2018 and December 2021 was evaluated for demographic features, clinical findings, management details and outcomes. Patients divided in two groups;before pandemics (Group A) and during pandemics (Group B). The groups were compared according to the abovementioned parameters. Result(s) Totally 79 cases with median age of 5 years (4-5) in Group A (n = 47) and 3 years (2-3) in Group B (n = 32) were included (p<0.05). The witnessed aspiration was significantly higher in Group B (90.6%) when compared to Group A (53%) (p<0.05). Admission time was less than 48 h in 30 cases (64%) in Group A, 23 cases (72%) in Group B (p = 0.002). The intervention time was less than 24 h in 30 cases (64%) in Group A, 9 cases (28%) in Group B (p = 0.002). Bronchoscopy performed after Covid-19 PCR testing in all cases in Group B. The positive FBA rate was 38% (n = 18) in Group A, and 59% (n = 19) in Group B (p = 0.067). Conclusion(s) During pandemics, bronchoscopy for FBA was performed in younger infants than before pandemics and witnessed aspiration was significantly more common in that period. The differences in age groups and symptoms may be explained by spending more time at home during pandemics. Although waiting for the PCR test results causes delays in the intervention, this delay did not cause any respiratory distress in the present study.