The practicality of physicians performing thoracoscopy for diagnostic purposes was assessed in 30 patients with pleural effusions of unknown cause. A rigid thoracoscope was compared with a fibreoptic bronchoscope used as a flexible thoracoscope and the diagnostic adequacy of biopsy specimens obtained with the two instruments assessed. The two instruments were inserted by a physician in the bron...

Interventional bronchoscopy is a rapidly expanding field in respiratory medicine offering minimally invasive therapeutic and palliative procedures for all types of lung neoplasms. This field has progressed over the last couple of decades with the application of new technology. The HERMES European curriculum recommendations include interventional bronchoscopy skills in the modules of thoracic tu...

BACKGROUND Use of the flexible needle via the fibreoptic bronchoscope to aspirate mediastinal nodes or masses has largely superseded the use of the rigid needle via the rigid bronchoscope. However, the yield at fibreoptic bronchoscopy is relatively low, although this improves with the use of a wider gauge needle. In this study the sensitivity and the safety of rigid needle sampling of the media...

To cite: Azurara L, Lemos C. BMJ Case Rep Published online: [please include Day Month Year] doi:10.1136/bcr-2016214857 DESCRIPTION A healthy 10-year-old boy presented to the emergency department, with a 3-day history of cough and odynophagia, which started after eating squid. On examination, he had decreased breath sounds in the lower half of the right lung. The physical examination was otherwi...

OBJECTIVE Foreign body aspirations comprise the majority of accidental deaths in childhood. Diagnostic delay may cause an increase in mortality and morbidity in cases without acute respiratory failure. We report our diagnostic and compare the relevant studies available in literature to our results. METHODS In our Hospital, bronchoscopy was performed on 1015 patients with the diagnosis of fore...