The bronchoscopy examination supplies a visual of the airways. During the procedure the physician examines the upper and lower airways using a bronchoscope, an elastic fiber-optic device with a video camera at the end.
The exam is performed on hospitalized and ambulatory patients following a referral from a lung specialist. The procedure is done under sedation and local anesthesia of the throat and nose. In children the procedure is done under full anesthesia by an anesthesiologist.
After the procedure the patient is required to stay at the institute for observation for about two hours. Food and drink are usually allowed after this time.
Adults who underwent a procedure that includes a biopsy will be sent for a chest x-ray after the two-hour observation.

A bronchoscopy is done for two main reasons:

• Treatment: removal of foreign objects, insertion of stents to open blockages in the airways, laser treatment (eradication of lumps etc.), removal of polyps.
• Diagnosis: biopsy of the bronchi or the lungs for the diagnosis of lung diseases and tumors (benign or malignant), acquiring tissue cultures for the diagnosis of infectious diseases (viral or bacterial), sampling the lymph nodes for a pathological diagnosis.
  The institute also performs invasive bronchoscopies for collecting samples of the lymph nodes.

Endo-bronchial ultrasound

The Lung Institute has a bronchoscope equipped with an ultrasound, a new device that can be found in only a handful of institutes around Israel. The device is used to remove biopsies from the lymph nodes that are located between the lungs and the airways. The ultrasound enables the physician to visualize the node clearly so the biopsy is done with the at most precision. This can eliminate the need to do the biopsy in a surgery under general anesthesia.
The process and the recovery afterwards are the same as with a regular bronchoscopy.