Intrabronchial Administration of Therapeutic Agents Through the Fiberoptic Bronchoscope

Abstract

Fiberoptic bronchoscopy has been applied for the diagnosis and therapy of various pulmonary diseases. This paper describes intrabronchial instillation of therapeutic agents through the fiberoptic bronchoscope. In patients with aspiration pneumonia we performed broncho-alveolar lavage using saline and administered corticosteroid and antibiotics. Six of 8 patients showed improvement. We also successfully treated 14 patients with chronic bronchitis and bronchiectasis whose chief complaint was hemoptysis, by instilling thrombin solution into the affected bronchus via a polyethylene tube inserted through the fiberoptic bronchoscope. In all of 14 patients hemoptysis disappeared immediately after the instillation of thrombin solution. Another group of 29 patients who suffered from hemorrhage induced by TBLB, bronchial mucous membrane biopsy or local injection of anticancer drugs, was successfully treated by instillation of thrombin solution. Twenty-two patients with primary lung cancer were treated by injecting several anti-cancer drugs directly into the intrabronchial tumors and all of 22 patients showed an improvement.