Retrospective Review of Flexible Bronchoscopy in Pediatric Cancer Patients

Ali H. Ahmad, Brandon D. Brown, Clark R. Andersen, Kris M. Mahadeo, Demetrios Petropolous, José A. Cortes, Shehla Razvi, Mary Katherine Gardner, Linette J. Ewing, Rodrigo E. Mejia

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

The use of flexible bronchoscopy (FB) with bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) to diagnose and manage pulmonary complications has been shown to be safe in adult cancer patients, but whether its use is safe in pediatric cancer patients remains unclear. Thus, to describe the landscape of FB outcomes in pediatric cancer patients and to help define the populations most likely to benefit from the procedure, we undertook a retrospective review of FBs performed in patients younger than 21 years treated at our institution from 2002 to 2017. We found that a greater volume of total fluid instilled during BAL was significantly associated with increased probabilities of positive BAL culture (p=0.042), positive bacterial BAL culture (p=0.037), and positive viral BAL culture (p=0.0496). In more than half of the FB cases, findings resulted in alterations in antimicrobial treatment. Our study suggests that for pediatric cancer patients, FB is safe, likely provides diagnostic and/or therapeutic benefits, and has implications for treatment decisions.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number770523
JournalFrontiers in Oncology
Volume11
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 14 2021

Keywords

  • BAL
  • bronchoscopy
  • pediatric cancer
  • pediatric critical care
  • pediatric oncology

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Oncology
  • Cancer Research

MD Anderson CCSG core facilities

  • Biostatistics Resource Group

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