Bronchoscopy - diagnosis of a pet's bronchi

At our veterinary hospital in Los Angeles, bronchoscopy is performed on animals to examine in detail the inner surface of the trachea as well as the bronchi. The veterinarian decides to perform this examination if radiographs have failed to identify the cause of the patient's deterioration. Bronchoscopy gives doctors the following possibilities:

• Detect the cause of the cough if it has not gone away after treatment.
• Take tissue for laboratory tests.
• Confirm a suspected collapsed trachea, and know the extent of the disease.
• Remove a foreign body from the airway.
• Find out why the patient is bleeding or hemoptysis.
• Verify the correctness of a diagnosis made on another hardware examination.

Bronchoscopy is not perceived by the animal as a stressful event, because it stays under general anesthesia during the procedure. The diagnosis is completely safe and painless, as is the process of removing the foreign object from the respiratory system.

Preparing an animal for bronchoscopy

Veterinary Hospital Animal Clinic International professionals do everything necessary to prevent complications during your pet's lung exam. Veterinarians do X-rays beforehand, analyze the results of cardiac diagnostics as well as blood tests.

The veterinarian-endoscopist together with the anesthesiologist decide whether bronchoscopy is appropriate. The dosage of anesthesia is calculated individually according to the age and health condition of your pet.

An important point: you must observe 12 hours of a starvation diet. This will prevent food in the stomach from entering the airways while the pet is medically asleep.

How is the bronchoscopy performed?

Anesthesia is applied to the animal, after which a flexible endoscope is inserted into the lumen of the trachea and bronchi. The equipment is equipped with a micro-camera that allows real-time assessment of the mucosa of the airways.

A bronchoscopy takes about 40 minutes, but may take less. When it is completed, the endoscope is gently removed. The animal wakes up under the supervision of an anesthesiologist. When the anesthesia wears off, the pet can go home and move around on its own.