Open AccessSafety of interventional bronchoscopy through complication review at a cancer center
Author(s) -
Hsu LiHan,
Liu ChiaChuan,
Ko JenSheng,
Chen ChaoChun,
Feng AnChen
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
the clinical respiratory journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.789
H-Index - 33
eISSN - 1752-699X
pISSN - 1752-6981
DOI - 10.1111/crj.12225
Subject(s) - medicine , complication , bronchoscopy , lung cancer , center (category theory) , cancer , general surgery , radiology , intensive care medicine , surgery , oncology , chemistry , crystallography
Background and Aims There have been rapid advances in the area of interventional bronchoscopy over the past 15 years, but associated complications have been rarely discussed. A longitudinal evaluation of the same operator's performance at a cancer center is reported. Methods A detailed record review of diagnostic and therapeutic bronchoscopy between J anuary 1997 and M arch 2013 was conducted. Results Among the 1358 diagnostic bronchoscopies, there were nine major complications requiring premature termination and three pneumothoraces found during follow‐up (0.88%). An escalation in the level of care was required for four patients with massive bleeding, asthma attack, sedation intoxication and myocardial ischemia, respectively. Six cases occurred after brushing (0.71%), and five cases before any sampling procedure was conducted. The complication rate was highest for peripheral lesions (1.03%). Among the 109 therapeutic bronchoscopies, no major patient‐specific complication occurred except for excessive granulation tissue formation following metallic stenting in one patient with benign tracheal stenosis. Conclusion The complication rate with regard to bronchoscopy is comparable with historical controls according to the related literature, and their occurrence appears to be sporadic, not relevant to patient characteristics and mostly related to the bronchoscopy itself rather than the introduction of new techniques. Bronchoscopy remains safe along with technical innovations. However, risk recognition and effective prevention is essential.