Mastering Bronchoscopy for Thoracic Surgery

This article shares 15 years’ worth of experience of bronchoscopy. Originally designed for cardiothoracic surgical trainees, others will find it resourceful. In particular, it’s a good reference to have for pulmonologists and trainees, anesthetists, intensivists in the intensive care unit, and medical students interested in the details of the bronchial tree. The author intends these videos to be as comprehensive as the 15 years of experience, and the topic is divided into six chapters.

Chapter 1 covers the development of the bronchopulmonary segments and their nomenclature.

Chapter 2 explains how to perform rigid and flexible bronchoscopy and what is normal.

Chapter 3 describes the abnormalities of the central airways.

Chapter 4 describes the abnormalities of the right bronchial tree.

Chapter 5 describes the abnormalities of the left bronchial tree.

Finally, Chapter 6 shows a one-minute quiz and the answer to how the diagnosis was made. The viewer should resist jumping to the answer before seeing the quiz!

One of the main objectives of these videos is to assist the pulmonologists. It is meant to give a gist of how a thoracic surgeon thinks when performing bronchoscopy in terms of diagnosis, tumor biopsy capabilities, assessment for lung resection, and alternative managements, such as laser and stenting. This should help the pulmonologist in referring their patients for surgical intervention. The author hopes it is found to be useful, and please leave your comments so that future videos can be improved.

Additional Resources

1. Segmental anatomy (www.bronchoscopy.nl). hansdaniels YouTube Channel. URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThYHLG50pH0&t=226s. Published January 23, 2011. Accessed February 13, 2019.
2. Yang K, DiMaio M, Feller-Kopman D. Bronchial Tree: Segmental Anatomy from an Endobronchial View. Kristin Yang YouTube Channel. URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLsXe5oB2W0. Published June 13, 2011. Accessed February 15, 2019.

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