Carlens J, et al. - Experts gauged the frequency and severity of clearly defined complications of bronchoscopy in children that occurred both during and after the procedure. They also intended to determine the potential risk factors. Elective bronchoscopies were carried out in children aged 0-17 years during the time period of 2008-2012. Findings reported that intraprocedural complications occurred in 7.2% of all procedures; among these, hypoxemia was the most common, occurring in 4.8% of cases. It was determined that bronchoscopy in children was relatively safe. Nonetheless, adverse events could occur and knowledge of risk factors could assist in preventing complications.

Methods

• The design of this research was a retrospective single-center analysis.
• A total of 670 elective bronchoscopies were examined in 522 children aged 0-17 years during the time period of 2008-2012.
• Exclusion criteria involved procedures in Intensive Care Unit patients and children after lung transplantation.

Results

• It was noted that the mean patient age was 5.58 years, 61.5% had underlying chronic diseases.
• The occurrence of intraprocedural complications was found in 7.2% of all procedures, out of which hypoxemia was the most common, occurring in 4.8% of cases.
• In 25.8% cases, postprocedural adverse events were documented, the most frequent of which were fever in 14.2% and transient oxygen dependency in 13.4% of cases.
• Findings did not reveal any bronchoscopy related deaths.
• Using multivariate logistic regression, risk factors were determined for (1) any complication, or (2) severe complications.
• Data demonstrated that age below 2 years (OR 1.837 [1.224-2.757], P=0.003) and primary ciliary dyskinesia (OR 4.821 [2.018-11.552], P < 0.001) substantially contributed to the risk of any complication.
• Furthermore, it was discovered that age below 2 years (OR 2.478 [1.072-5.728], P=0.034) and underlying cardiovascular disease (OR 2.678 [1.013-7.077], P=0.047) served as independent risk factors for severe complications.