Pediatric flexible fiberoptic bronchoscopy--a preliminary report.

The introduction of flexible fiberoptic bronchoscopy into clinical use in 1968 had led a veritable explosion in the application of pulmonary endoscopy. In 1978, Wood and his colleagues, using a 3.5 mm Olympus 3C4 pediatric bronchoscope, expanded this technique to pediatric field. Up-to-now, they have more than 2000 bronchoscopies in pediatric patients, however, there has been no report in this field in Taiwan. I, using a new Olympus pediatric flexible fiberoptic bronchoscope 3C20, sedation and topic anesthesia, performed 24 airway examinations in 22 patients in the past 7-month period. The youngest patient was a 1672 gm, 4 day-old baby. The most frequent indication was stridor and most common diagnosis was laryngomalacia. The complications were not common and could have been avoidable if performed by an expert. My conclusion is that pediatric fiberoptic bronchoscopy is possible even in small babies less than 3 kg of weight.