Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) pose a unique challenge to the anesthetist. The manifestations of RA may include cervical spine instability, limited range of motion, and temperomandibular joint involvement limiting mouth opening. Therefore, securing the airway while maintaining the head and neck in a neutral position is of particular concern to the anesthetist. While this is most common...

Awake intubation with fiberoptic bronchoscopy (FOB) is a popular technique in patients with difficult intubation criteria. Preservation of spontaneous respiration by nasotracheal intubation with FOB accompanied by sedation was performed in a case assessed as difficult intubation due to a high Mallampati score at preoperative evaluation and the presence of a mass extending to the oral cavity. Fo...

The performance of flexible fiberoptic bronchoscopy (FFB) has anecdotally been considered to carry a high risk of neurologic complications in patients with raised intracranial pressure (ICP). There is no evidence in the literature to support this concern. We evaluated this risk by reviewing hospital records of 132 patients who underwent FFB and computer tomography of the central nervous system ...

Techniques such as flexible fiberoptic bronchoscopy and sputum cytology remain the basic tools for lung cancer diagnosis.Advances in radiology have led to the introduction of low dose helical computed tomography for screening for lung cancer, which is effective in identifying small lung nodules not evident on plain chest radiographs. Such nodules are not amenable to bronchoscopic biopsy, percut...

A retrospective review of 529 fiberoptic bronchoscopies was done with an aim to identify conditions where it will be most useful. The common indications were persistent/ recurrent pneumonia, persistent collapse, stridor and pulmonary hemorrhage. The diagnostic yield was maximum when it was performed to identify structural abnormalities and the yield was relatively poor in suspected drug resista...

Fiberoptic bronchoscopy with bronchoalveolar lavage and protected specimen brush technique has become an established method for etiologic diagnosis in severe forms of pulmonary infections during recent years. In this study, including 62 bronchoscopies in 53 patients, a standardized program, covering all important pulmonary pathogens, has been evaluated in a heterogeneous group of patients. Resu...

Flexible fiberoptic bronchoscopy has been proven to be an effective tool for the assessment and characterization of airway inflammation. Visual inspection of airways affected by chronic bronchitis discloses an abnormal appearance characterized by erythema, edema, secretions, and friability. It was hypothesized that the visual appearance of airway inflammation could be assessed in a semiquantita...

Fiberoptic bronchoscopy (FBS) is a relatively safe procedure, commonly used in intensive care, both to monitor and maintain airways and for the diagnosis the pathology of the pulmonary parenchyma [1, 2]. It is usually practiced in emergency conditions on critically ill patients, who are intubated by controlled ventilation or by non-invasive assisted ventilation. In the latter case bronchoscopy ...

A 56-year-old diabetic man presented with left upper lobe collapse and postobstructive pneumonitis. Fiberoptic bronchoscopy revealed an endobronchial mass obstructing the left mainstem bronchus. The lesion resembled a bronchial adenoma; however, cytologic and histologic examination revealed invasive mucormycosis. The patient was treated with intravenous amphotericin B followed by endoscopic las...