[Efficacy and safety of bronchoscopic submucosal polidocanol injection for bronchopleural fistula]

A retrospective analysis was conducted of 29 patients with postoperative bronchopleural fistula. All patients had fistulas ≤5 mm in diameter and underwent bronchoscopic submucosal polidocanol injection. The overall treatment efficacy rate was 86.2%. After treatment, Karnofsky Performance Status and dyspnea scores improved significantly compared with pretreatment values (both P<0.05). Post-procedural complications included fever in 3 patients (10.3%), mild hemoptysis in 4 (13.8%), and worsening pneumothorax in 1 (3.4%); no procedure-related infections or deaths occurred. These findings suggest that bronchoscopic submucosal polidocanol injection is an effective and safe treatment for postoperative bronchopleural fistulas ≤5 mm in diameter.