Revista de medicina pulmonar

Airway foreign body removal, in childhood, with a rigid bronchoscope

Fadi bitar

Suffocation, due to a foreign body in the airway, is the most common cause of accidental death in toddlers and children under5 years of age.

My study started in November 1996 and was conducted both at Aleppo University Hospital and during my subsequent private practice . It includes 2840 patients, the majority aged less than 6 years old. I will present the development of bronchoscopy, since first described in 1896 by Killian, and then my own practice in the evaluation of patients & operative techniques that I have used. I will tabulate the complication rates and my results, with statistical analysis, and finally derive my personal recommendations