Flexible fiberoptic bronchoscopy of chimpanzees.

Five 10- to 12-year-old, male chimpanzees were used in a study that required repeated flexible fiberoptic bronchoscopic procedures. The combination of ketamine and inhalation anesthesia was satisfactory for these procedures. The gross anatomy of the airways of the chimpanzee resembled those of man more than those of the dog or rhesus monkey. The bronchoscope could be easily maneuvered into the main bronchi, lobar bronchi, and at least two branches of the lobar airways. Sublobar lavages were performed to obtain cells from the deep lung. Histologic examination of a lung showed that generous numbers of bronchial glands extended down to the tertiary bronchi in chimpanzees explaining the copius amounts of mucous observed during bronchoscopy.