Experiences with laser bronchoscopy

Laser bronchoscopy was performed 87 times in 58 patients over a three-year period at Wilkes-Barre General Hospital. Fifty-six patients (97 percent) had malignant disease, including bronchogenic carcinoma (46), metastatic neoplasm to bronchus or lung (eight), or direct extension of esophageal carcinoma (two); benign pathology included tracheal papillomatosis (one) and granulation tissue (one). Eighty-six percent of tumors were proximally located (trachea, carina, mainstem bronchi). A standardized procedure utilizing both rigid and flexible bronchoscopy and the Nd:YAG laser was employed, with two deaths (2.3 percent) and eight complications (9.2 percent). Results were good or excellent in all five patients treated for bleeding and in 68 of 82 patients (83 percent) treated for obstruction. The patient with an obstructing or bleeding endobronchial lesion can achieve palliation through Nd:YAG laser bronchoscopic resection.