Chest
BronchoscopyBronchoscopically Induced Bleeding: A Summary of Nine Years' Cleveland Clinic Experience and Review of the Literature
Section snippets
METHODS
Reports of bronchoscopies performed at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation from January 1981 through December 1989 were retrospectively reviewed to determine the frequency of clinically significant bronchoscopically induced bleeding. Bronchoscopy reports describing more than the “usual” amount of bleeding encountered during the procedure served to identify the study population. Medical records of these patients were subsequently reviewed to determine the diseases established by bronchoscopy, the
RESULTS
Table 1 outlines the total number of bronchoscopies,number of endobronchial biopsies, TBB, brush biopsies, and the degree of bleeding accompanying each type of biopsy for the study population in each year. The degree of bleeding was arbitrarily defined as follows: minimal bleeding, less than 50 ml of blood intermixed with saline lavage; moderate bleeding, 50 to 100 ml of blood and lavage fluid; profuse bleeding, greater than 100 ml of blood and lavage fluid. A total of 6,969 FFB and 3,096
DISCUSSION
As can be seen from our data, there was no consistent trend in the number of bronchoscopies, biopsies, or incidence of bleeding accompanying bronchoscopies for the years 1981 through 1989. However, the degree of bleeding following biopsy was related to the type of biopsy performed. Transbronchial biopsy was more frequently accompanied by significant bleeding compared to EBB. This finding may be related to the degree of direct visibility and access afforded endobronchial lesions, sampled by EBB.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Ms.Rosemary Olson expertly assisted in the preparation of this manuscript.