Pediatric flexible bronchoscopy: A tertiary single center experience.

Objective: Flexible bronchoscopy (FB) is an important tool for evaluating pediatric patients with respiratory issues. This study aims to investigate the clinical features of children who underwent FB.

Methods: The study included 191 children who underwent FB between April 1, 2021 and December 31, 2022. Demographic and clinical data were retrospectively reviewed.

Results: One hundred ninety-one children (45% girl) were enrolled to study. Median age was 25 months (min 1, max 214 months) and median duration of complaints was 4 (min 1, max 80) months. Among the patients, 61.7% of them had a chronic disease. The main indications were stridor (17.6%) and extubation failure (13.5%). Rate of patients in the ICU during FB was 27.5% and 15.5% of them were intubated. Airway secretions in the lower respiratory tract and isolated laryngomalacia were the most common abnormal FB results (30.1% and 9.8% respectively). The most common abnormal FB findings were in children with extubation failure (92.3%). Forty percent of patients with chronic cough had abnormal FB findings. Bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) sampling was performed in 61.6% (n=119) of patients and Haemophilus influenzae was the most common pathogen in these patients (n=40).

Conclusion: FB is a valuable tool for investigating airway pathology and BAL sampling in children with respiratory problems.