The effects of fiberoptic bronchoscopy with and without atropine premedication on pulmonary function in humans

Pulmonary function studies, including arterial blood gas analysis, were performed in 21 patients undergoing fiberoptic bronchoscopy. Eight received premedication with atropine and 13 did not. In the atropine-treated group there was no significant deterioration in pulmonary function immediately after bronchoscopy compared with baseline. Compared with the values obtained after topical lidocaine anesthesia, however, there was a decrease in peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR) (20 +/- 20%), forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1.0) (11 +/- 12%), forced expiratory flow between 25 and 75% of vital capacity (FEF25-75) (22 +/- 16%), and forced expiratory flow at 75% of exhaled vital capacity (FEF75) (28 +/- 38%) and an increase in residual volume (RV) (16 +/- 19%). In the no-atropine group, postbronchoscopy values showed a decrease in PEFR (13 +/- 19%), forced vital capacity (FVC) (13 +/- )9%), FEV1.0 (14 +/- 16%), and oxygen partial pressure (Pa02) (11 +/- 9%) and an increase in RV (19 +/- 31%) and alveolar-arterial oxygen pressure gradient (deltaAaPO2) (91 +/- 129%) compared with baseline values. In this group also, topical lidocaine anesthesia resulted in a decrease in FVC compared with baseline. We conclude that the deleterious effect of bronchoscopy on pulmonary function is counterbalanced by the beneficial effect of atropine and that atropine is therefore a useful premedication for fiberoptic bronchoscopy.