Bronchoscopy - information for patients

About your bronchoscopy

A bronchoscopy lets us look directly inside your airways and take samples. A
thin flexible tube with a camera on the end is passed through your nose or
mouth, down past the vocal cords and into the airways of the lungs. The tube is
about the width of a pencil.

The test usually takes 20 to 30 minutes, and you will be in the department for
around half a day.

Before you come

Do not eat for [] hours before the test. You may drink clear fluids until []
hours before.

Take your usual medicines with a small sip of water, unless we have told you
otherwise.

If you take a blood thinner - warfarin, apixaban, rivaroxaban, edoxaban,
dabigatran, clopidogrel, ticagrelor or prasugrel - contact us before the test,
because it may need to be stopped for a few days first. Do not stop it on your
own.

If you have diabetes, contact us for advice about your medication and the
fasting.

You must bring someone who can take you home, and you should not be alone for
the first 12 hours afterwards.

On the day

We will check who you are and what we have planned, and answer your questions
before you sign a consent form.

Your throat and nose are numbed with a local anaesthetic spray, which tastes
bitter and makes your throat feel strange. Most people are also offered
sedation through a small needle in the back of the hand. It does not put you to
sleep, but it makes you drowsy and relaxed, and most people remember little
about the test.

You will be given oxygen, and your heart rate and oxygen level are monitored
throughout.

You will be able to breathe normally the whole time. The tube does not block
your airway. Coughing during the test is common and expected.

Afterwards

You will rest in the department until the sedation wears off, usually one to
two hours.

Do not eat or drink anything for [] hours after the test, until the throat
anaesthetic has worn off, because you could choke.

For 24 hours after sedation, do not drive, cycle, operate machinery, drink
alcohol, sign legal documents or look after young children on your own.

A sore throat, a hoarse voice, a mild cough and small streaks of blood in the
phlegm for a day or two are all normal.

Risks

Bronchoscopy is a commonly performed and generally safe test, but no procedure
is without risk.

Common and usually minor: sore throat, hoarse voice, cough, small amounts of
blood in the phlegm, a temporary fall in oxygen level, and a temperature on the
evening of the test.

Uncommon: bleeding needing treatment, chest infection.

Rare: a collapsed lung, needing a drain, which is a particular risk when a
sample is taken from the lung tissue itself; a reaction to the sedation;
and very rarely a serious complication of the heart or lungs.

We will explain which of these apply to the specific samples we plan to take,
because the risk depends on what is done.

When to get help afterwards

Contact us or go to your nearest emergency department if you cough up more than
streaks of blood, become breathless, develop chest pain, or become feverish and
unwell in the days after the test.

Your results

Some results are available within a few days. Samples sent for growing bacteria
take longer, and tests for tuberculosis and related organisms can take up to
eight weeks. We will contact you with the results and arrange follow-up as we
have discussed.