Urgent Bronchoscopy for Foreign Body Aspiration 48 Children among 1096 Patients

Objective: Foreign body aspiration is a potentially life-threatening emergency in children. Urgent rigid bronchoscopy should be performed when presentation includes severe respiratory failure with suspicion for FBA. To the best of the knowledge, this is the first study that evaluates URB in English literature. Methods: Forty-eight patients who underwent urgent rigid bronchoscopy were included in this study. From the medical records, the patients’ demographic characteristics, hospital arrival time, endotracheal intubation status, peripheral oxygen saturation, bronchoscopy results, type and location of foreign body , intraoperative and postoperative complications, mortality, X-ray results, length of hospital stay were evaluated. Results: Twenty-four of the 48 patients were non-intubated. Peripheral oxygen saturation values were 60±14.40 in the preoperative period. There was not any statistically significant difference between intubated and non-intubated patients in terms of intraoperative and postoperative complications. There was not any statistically significant difference between patients with negative and positive results for bronchoscopy in terms of intraoperative and postoperative complications. Conclusions: Bronchoscopy is not without risk; however, it is a life-saving procedure. Despite negative foreign body results, urgent bronchoscopy should be performed in suspicious cases.