Abstract
From the results of Questionnaire survey by the Japanese Society for Bronchology in 2000 (229 hospitals), frequent complications during bronchoscopy were reported as pneumothorax, infection, and the third was asthma exacerbation (19.9%). Out of 1270 bronchoscopic examinations for diagnosis in recent three years 37 examinations (3%) were patients with asthma. In the 37 events, only one patient, who had not receive regular use of inhaled corticosteroid, suffered asthma exacerbation during this process. The important two points for safe examination were 1) good asthma control by inhaled corticosteroid and 2) short time examination by expert bronchologist. Saturation oxygen monitoring should be done during the examination, and nasal oxygen supply should be prepared. In cases of mild or moderate stable asthmatic patients, pre-medication of regular or double dose of inhaled corticosteroid or inhaled longacting β2 agonist on the day of examination, and of inhaled short-acting β2 agonist before 15 minutes were recommended. And in patients with unstable asthma, drip infusion of steroid, i.e. 40-125 mg of methylprednisolone and theophylline on the day of examination would be recommended.
