In Respiratory, Bronchoscopy is a test which can help to diagnose and treat conditions of your breathing. It involves a doctor sliding a flexible camera-tube into your lungs.
A bronchoscopy is a procedure where a doctor can examine the voice box and the air tubes that carry air in and out of your lungs. This is done with a small flexible tube with a video camera on the end (called a bronchoscope) that is passed through the nose or mouth.
In addition to examining this part of your body the doctor can obtain fluid or small pieces of tissue from the linings of the breathing tubes or lungs to be sent to the laboratory for additional investigations.
The doctor will numb the inside of your nose and the back of your throat by spraying on some local anaesthetic. This may taste a bit unpleasant.
A fibre-optic bronchoscope is the device usually used. This is a thin, flexible, telescope, it is about as thin as a pencil. You are usually awake during a bronchoscopy, but are sedated and made very sleepy.
The bronchoscope is passed through your nose or mouth, down the back of your throat, into your windpipe (trachea), and down into your bronchi. The fibre-optics allow light to shine around bends in the bronchoscope and so the doctor can see clearly inside your airways.
The doctor may take one or more samples (biopsies) of parts of the inside lining of the airways – depending on why the test is done and what they see – this is painless. The biopsy samples are sent to the laboratory for testing and to be looked at under the microscope.
If you have a sedative, you may take an hour or so before you are ready to go home after the bronchoscopy is finished. The sedative will normally make you feel quite pleasant and relaxed. However, you should not drive, operate machinery or drink alcohol for 24 hours after having the sedative. You should not eat or drink anything for two hours after the bronchoscopy because your throat will still be numb. You will need somebody to accompany you home and to stay with you for 24 hours until the effects have fully worn off. Most people feel able to resume normal activities after 24 hours.
The doctor will tell you what they saw before you leave. However, if you have had a sedative you may not remember afterwards what they said. Therefore, you may wish to have a relative or close friend with you who may be able to remember what was said. The result from any sample (biopsy) may take a few days or weeks to come back.
This procedure is available at all our facilities
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