1.Introduction
Plastic bronchitis (PB) is an uncommon pulmonary disease characterized
by formation of bronchial casts (BCs) in airways, which can partially or
completely obstruct the tracheobronchial tree1.
Previously, PB was usually reported in children with surgically
palliated congenital heart disease, especially those after the Fontan
procedure2. With the wide application of fiberoptic
bronchoscopy (FOB) in bronchopulmonary disease, accumulating evidence
indicated that PB can be triggered by common pathogens of respiratory
tract infection including influenza virus (A and B), adenovirus (ADV)
and Mycoplasma pneumoniae (MP) 3-7, suggesting that PB
may not be a rare disease.
The clinical manifestations of PB include repeated fever, shortness of
breath and can rapidly progress to acute dyspnea and even
life-threatening respiratory failure 8,9. As PB is a
serious disease which can endanger lives without timely management, we
explored and analyzed the clinical characteristics, laboratory
examinations, imaging features and management of 269 children with PB to
help clinians recognize it in time and apply effective treatment
promptly.To the best of our knowledge, this study is the largest
research of PB in children and is the first study to identify risk
factors of multiple FOB therapy in PB patients.