Current Practices Supporting Rigid Bronchoscopy - An International Survey

Background: There are no guidelines for anesthesia or staff support needed during rigid bronchoscopy (RB). Identifying current practice patterns for RB pertinent to anesthesia, multidisciplinary teams, and algorithms of intra and post-procedural care may inform best practice recommendations. Methods: Thirty-three-question survey created obtaining practice patterns for RB, disseminated via email to the members of the American Association of Bronchology and Interventional Pulmonology and the American College of Chest Physicians Interventional Chest Diagnostic Procedures Network. Results: One hundred seventy-five clinicians participated. Presence of a dedicated interventional pulmonology (IP) suite correlated with having a dedicated multidisciplinary RB team (P=0.0001) and predicted higher likelihood of implementing team-based algorithms for managing complications (39.4% vs. 23.5%, P=0.024). A dedicated anesthesiology team was associated with the increased use of high-frequency jet ventilation (P=0.0033), higher likelihood of laryngeal mask airway use post-RB extubation (P=0.0249), and perceived lower rates of postprocedural anesthesia adverse effects (P=0.0170). Although total intravenous anesthesia was the most used technique during RB (94.29%), significant variability in the modes of ventilation and administration of muscle relaxants was reported. Higher comfort levels in performing RB are reported for both anesthesiologists (P=0.0074) and interventional pulmonologists (P=0.05) with the presence of dedicated anesthesia and RB supportive teams, respectively. Conclusion: Interventional bronchoscopists value dedicated services supporting RB. Multidisciplinary dedicated RB teams are more likely to implement protocols guiding management of intraprocedural complications. There are no preferred modes of ventilation during RB. These findings may guide future research on RB practices.