This allows the practitioner to examine the patient's airways for abnormalities such as foreign bodies, bleeding, tumors, or inflammation.

The construction of bronchoscopes ranges from rigid metal tubes with attached lighting devices to flexible optical fiber instruments with realtime video equipment.

[4] The flexible scope initially employed fiberoptic bundles requiring an external light source for illumination.

Fiberoptic scopes have been superseded by bronchoscopes with a charge-coupled device (CCD) video chip located at their distal end.

[8] Massive hemoptysis, defined as loss of over 600 mL of blood in 24 hours, is a medical emergency and should be addressed with initiation of intravenous fluids and examination with rigid bronchoscopy.

[9] Interventional bronchoscopy in chronic obstructive airway inflammatory diseases including asthma and COPD has greatly evolved and show promising results for the clinical management of patients.

[11] The patient will often be given antianxiety and antisecretory medications (to prevent oral secretions from obstructing the view), generally atropine, and sometimes an analgesic such as morphine.

Specimen of lung tissue (transbronchial biopsy) may be sampled using a real-time X-ray (fluoroscopy) or an electromagnetic tracking system.

If the patient has had a transbronchial biopsy, doctors may take a chest X-ray to rule out any air leakage in the lungs (pneumothorax) after the procedure.

Bronchoscopy has an important role to play in the management of critically ill patients in the Intensive care unit.

Although a rigid bronchoscope can scratch or tear airways or damage the vocal cords, the risk of bronchoscopy is limited in otherwise well patients.

[22] The risk of complications from fiberoptic bronchoscopy are minimized with good training, careful technique and an ongoing dialogue with the anesthesiologist or sedationist.

Patients with tumors or significant bleeding may experience increased difficulty breathing after a bronchoscopic procedure, sometimes due to swelling of the mucous membranes of the airways.