bronchoscopy

Bronchoscopy is a way to look directly inside the breathing tubes. A slim instrument tipped with a light and a camera is passed through the nose or mouth, down past the voice box, and into the windpipe and its branching airways, sending back a live view on a screen. Where imaging shows shadows from the outside, bronchoscopy lets the doctor inspect the airway lining from within.

Beyond looking, it is a working channel for action. Through the same scope, doctors can take samples — brushings, washings and biopsies — to diagnose infection, inflammation or cancer; they can clear mucus plugs or blood; remove an inhaled foreign object; and place stents or deliver treatments to a narrowed airway. So it is both a diagnostic and a therapeutic tool.

Most bronchoscopies are done with a flexible scope under sedation and local anaesthetic, take well under an hour, and are well tolerated. A rigid bronchoscope — a straight metal tube used under general anaesthesia — is reserved for major airway work such as removing large obstructions or controlling bleeding. Risks are generally low but include bleeding, a brief drop in oxygen, and, with biopsies, a small chance of pneumothorax.