A systematic review of using flexible bronchoscopy to remove foreign bodies from paediatric patients.

AIM

Our aim was to summarise the evidence about flexible bronchoscopy for paediatric airway foreign body aspiration cases.

METHODS

We searched the PubMed database from 1 January 2001 to 9 October 2021 for peer-review papers published in English on the use, and success rates, of flexible bronchoscopy as the first-line treatment for foreign body aspiration cases. This process identified 243 potential papers.

RESULTS

We studied 23 papers comprising 2588 cases of foreign body aspiration and flexible bronchoscopy successfully removed the foreign bodies in 87.1% of cases. Complication rates were low in the 983 patients studied in 18 papers. The foreign bodies were organic materials in 78.3% of 1371 patients and mainly lodged in the right bronchial tree in 50.5% of 1402 patients. General anaesthesia was used before flexible bronchoscopy in 14/23 studies and laryngeal mask airways were mostly used in 10/23 studies to secure the airway during the procedure. Ancillary equipment was used to assist the foreign body removal in 57.3% of 1808 cases and these were usually baskets.

CONCLUSION

Flexible bronchoscopy was a feasible and safe therapeutic procedure for selected foreign body aspiration cases. Future studies need to focus on comparing the clinical outcomes of flexible and rigid bronchoscopies.