Abstract
In Department of Pneumology, Children's Hospital Armand-Trousseau, bronchoscopy and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) are performed for the cases of resiratory diseases which are difficult to be diagnosed. They usually used the rigid bronchoscope orally in patients under 9 kg of body weight and the flexible bronchoscope in patients over 9 kg of body weight. Pediatric bronchoscopy and BAL are useful procedure for the cases of persistent or recurrent respiratory diseases and could be performed under local anaesthesia without severe complication. When BAL has to be performed, the tip of the flexible bronchoscope is wedged at an orifice of lobar or segmental bronchus. Total volume of injected physiological saline is 10% of functional residual capacity (FRC) divided into six aliquots. Each aliquot is injected and recollected through the channel of bronchoscope by handled syringes. BAL-fluid (BALF) is analysed for microbiology, biochemistry, cytology, cytokines. It is expected that the method of BAL would be unified among the pediatric pneumologists.
