Introduction
Flexible bronchoscopy is an important procedure in pediatric pulmonology
and many centres across India have started performing this procedure.
However, the practices involved in the procedure are variable and
standard guidelines are not available. It is important to have a
standardized procedure for optimal output. The first step in this
direction is to assess the current practices. There are surveys
regarding bronchoscopy in adults from various countries like Canada (1),
UK (2), Japan (3), Australia and New Zealand (4), and India (5). There
is hardly any survey exclusively for pediatric bronchoscopy. Guidelines
for pediatric bronchoscopy are available (6) (7), but it is little
known, how much they are followed.
We conducted a survey to evaluate prevalent practice and variations in
pediatric flexible bronchoscopy practices in India. The survey also
aimed to compare current pediatric flexible bronchoscopy practices with
published guidelines.