A study of pharyngeal symptoms caused by bronchofiberscopy

We investigated the occurrence of pharyngeal symptoms in 100 patients who had undergone bronchofiberscopies by conducting a post-examination survey of the patients. Eighty-four patients complained of having a problem. Seventy-five patients, including 26 with dysphagia, complained of pharyngeal symptoms. The proportion with pharyngeal symptoms whose symptoms appeared on the day of examination was a high 89.4%. In 70.6% of cases, the duration of symptoms was less than four days. The pharyngeal symptoms were particularly common among patients who had undergone a bronchofiberscopy on a previous occasion or whose examination lasted for 15 min or more. A greater dysphagia incidence was noted among patients who had required an endotracheal tube (P = 0.03) and among those whose examination had lasted for 15 min or more (P = 0.01). Based on the results, we are now studying methods of alleviating pharyngeal symptoms, including dysphagia.