Flexible fibreoptic bronchoscopy in Addis Ababa: a 4-year experience

The paper describes a 4-year experience (August 1981 to July 1985) of flexible fibreoptic bronchoscopy (FFB) at Tikur Anbessa Hospital. Two hundred and eighteen bronchoscopies were done in 199 patients. There were 133 males and 66 females. The youngest patient was 14 and the oldest 70. FFB was done twice in 14 patients and three times in three patients. There were 27 primary pulmonary neoplasms, five secondaries, two tuberculosis, one interstitial fibrosis, one carcinoma of the larynx and five chronic inflammation. There was only one patient who developed haemoptysis after a transbronchial lung biopsy which resolved quickly. The flexible fibreoptic bronchoscope is a simple and useful tool to diagnose endobronchial lesions and also diffuse diseases of the lungs even in developing countries.