Indications and Outcome of Flexible Bronchoscopy at Muhimbili National Hospital in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Abstract

Background: A flexible bronchoscopy is an essential tool that is globally used for the diagnosis and treatment of Bronchopulmonary
diseases. However the indication and outcome of flexible bronchoscopy has not been widely documented
in majority of low resource settings.
Objective: To determine the indications and outcome of flexible bronchoscopy (FB) at Muhimbili National Hospital
(MNH).
Methodology: A cross sectional analytical study was conducted for a period of 12months. Details involving indications
and outcome of flexible bronchoscopy includes; bronchoscopy findings, therapeutic value, diagnostic yield, and early
procedural related complications together with their demographic data were documented after each procedure followed
by analysis using SPSS version 25.
Results: Among 151 patients underwent flexible bronchoscopy 76(50.30%) were male and 75(49.70%) were female.
The median age of 58 years with IQR (43, 65). Among the indications of flexible bronchoscopy, Cough and hemoptysis
were the leading by 124(82.10%) and 38(25.20%) respectively. On the other hand hyperemic mucosa 47(31.10%)
and endobronchial mass 32(21.20%) constituted the majority of the bronchoscopy findings. The overall diagnostic yield
was 34.3% and procedural related complications was 18.54%. Among the indications for flexible bronchoscopy, the
hemoptysis was associated with procedure related complications by 48(31.6%) OR (95%CI),2.779 (2.339-3.219)
p<.020. Among sampling technique of flexible bronchoscopy, the endobronchial biopsy and bronchi alveolar lavage
(BAL) sampling technique were associated with procedure related complications by 60(39.5%), OR (95%CI), 4.393
(3.957-4.829) p <.001 and 22(14.70%),OR (95%CI) 1.870 (1.656-2.084) p<.005 respectively .
Conclusion: We have demonstrated that flexible bronchoscopy is a safe and reliable procedure in diagnosis of respiratory
maladies including Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) at Muhimbili National Hospital.