Assessment of the Airway with Flexible Endoscopy

Visual endoscopic exploration of the airway has transformed the study of several diseases that affect this area of the respiratory system. The technique has undergone sustained development due to technological advances in equipment in terms of increasingly smaller diameters and improved optical resolution. Current flexible bronchoscopy equipment allow assessment of the airway in newborns, intubated infants, and tracheostomized children. The procedure allows us to search for infectious agents, perform bronchoalveolar lavage, and assist intubation in patients with breathing difficulty. The main advantages of flexible bronchoscopy are that it does not require general anesthesia, it can be conducted with noninvasive monitoring, and patients recover quickly because of the type of medication used. Moreover, the procedure can be carried out in different types of critical care unit, and it provides a dynamic assessment of the airway in a way no other study can.