bronkoskop

A bronchoscope, in Swedish often referred to as bronkoskop, is a medical device used to examine the interior of the airways. It is a long, slender tube fitted with a light and an imaging system, and it may include a working channel for instruments. There are rigid and flexible types. A rigid bronchoscope is a hollow metal tube used mainly for removing large foreign bodies and for certain therapeutic procedures. Flexible bronchoscopes are bendable and typically equipped with a video camera that transmits images to a monitor, allowing inspection of the trachea and the bronchi down to the segmental level. Many flexible bronchoscopes have a working channel for suction and instruments such as forceps, brushes, and lavage catheters.

Bronchoscopy is usually performed under local anesthesia with sedation, through the mouth or nose, with monitoring of oxygenation and ventilation. It is used diagnostically to visualize airways, obtain biopsies or cytology samples, and perform washes, and therapeutically to remove foreign bodies, dilate stenoses, place stents, or apply laser or other energy therapies. It can also deliver medications directly to the airways.

Common indications include persistent cough, hemoptysis, unexplained radiographic abnormalities, central airway obstruction, infection, or suspected lung cancer. Risks include hypoxemia, bronchospasm, bleeding, pneumothorax, infection, and anesthesia complications, though serious events are uncommon.

History indicates that rigid bronchoscopy emerged in the early 20th century, with flexible fibreoptic technology adding access to distal airways in the 1960s, greatly expanding safety and capabilities. Today bronchoscopy is performed by trained pulmonologists and anesthesiologists, with strict sterilization or disposable components to minimize infection.