“Is a bronchoscopy painful?”
I need to have a bronchoscopy next week to find out why I have a persistent cough. Is this procedure painful?
3 Answers
No, it is usually done under general anesthesia by a flexible bronchoscope. May only cause urge to cough.
No, not in general.
A bronchoscopy is a procedure whereby a physician (usually an anesthesiologist or a lung or ear-nose-throat specialist) places a special instrument with a camera at the end of a long, thin tube into the airway to look at the inner lining of the lungs. The instrument could also have an attachment that allows for obtaining a biopsy or a washing or a sample of fluid or cells encountered in the airway.
The procedure requires patients to be sedated, as a tube in the lungs (with the slightest movement) can be irritating. To that end, doctors usually start an IV prior to the procedure, which is probably the most painful part of the process.
The lining of the lungs do not have many nerve fibers per se, but the lining of the throat and vocal cords have nerve endings that go to the brain. If the latter area is biopsied, you could conceivably have some discomfort. But the majority of bronchoscopies do not involve biopsies, and the majority of biopsies are in the lungs. So the risk of pain from this procedure is rather small.
Good luck! I hope they find the source of the persistent cough and get you treated soon.
A bronchoscopy is a procedure whereby a physician (usually an anesthesiologist or a lung or ear-nose-throat specialist) places a special instrument with a camera at the end of a long, thin tube into the airway to look at the inner lining of the lungs. The instrument could also have an attachment that allows for obtaining a biopsy or a washing or a sample of fluid or cells encountered in the airway.
The procedure requires patients to be sedated, as a tube in the lungs (with the slightest movement) can be irritating. To that end, doctors usually start an IV prior to the procedure, which is probably the most painful part of the process.
The lining of the lungs do not have many nerve fibers per se, but the lining of the throat and vocal cords have nerve endings that go to the brain. If the latter area is biopsied, you could conceivably have some discomfort. But the majority of bronchoscopies do not involve biopsies, and the majority of biopsies are in the lungs. So the risk of pain from this procedure is rather small.
Good luck! I hope they find the source of the persistent cough and get you treated soon.
Depending on the pretreatment and local anesthesia, it is not at all painful.
