Urgent airway management - experience of an interventional bronchoscopy team

Introduction: Urgent airways are life-threatening situations. The availability of a team with expertise in urgent airway management can be life-saving. Our hospital has a team for urgent bronchoscopic interventions outside the normal working hours of the Bronchology Unit. The team alternates every 15 days with another hospital and is on call on week days (5pm-8am) and weekend (24h). It is the referral hospital for the north of Portugal. Aims & methods: Describe the features of urgent bronchoscopic procedures performed by our team (2013-2017). Results: The team was called 178 times, corresponding to 163 patients (table1). Table1-Urgent bronchoscopic interventions9 features Conclusions: Suspected foreign body aspiration was the main indication in children. The 1st technique in most cases was FB and less than a third were converted to RB. More than a third of children required no intervention. The main indications in adults were tracheal stenosis, haemoptysis and foreign body aspiration. The large majority performed RB and only 12% required no intervention.