Reduction of post-bronchoscopy pneumonia by working channel irrigation with sterile saline before diagnostic...

After transbronchial biopsy with flexible bronchoscopy, pneumonia sometimes occurs as a complication. The goal of our study was to determine whether irrigation of the working channel before diagnostic procedures can reduce the frequency of post-bronchoscopy pneumonia.

Initially, we examined the effect of working channel irrigation with 100 mL of sterile saline to reduce the number of bacteria attached to the working channel. Subsequently, we compared the frequency of post-bronchoscopy pneumonia in patients who underwent or did not undergo working channel irrigation before bronchoscopic biopsy or lavage fluid collection.

THE MAIN FINDINGS: A significant reduction in bacterial colonies was observed in the irrigated channel-flush samples. Of the 242 enrolled participants, 109 were in the exploratory group, whereas 133 were in the control group. The frequency of post-bronchoscopy pneumonia (PBP) was 2.8% (n = 3) and 3.8% (n = 5) in the exploratory and control groups, respectively.

While the irrigation by suctioning 100 mL of sterile saline was effective in reducing the bacterial load within the channel, the reduction in pneumonia incidence did not reach statistical significance, indicating the need for further accumulation of cases.