Impact of paediatric flexible bronchoscopy on quality of life (QoL) and management

What is flexible bronchoscopy and bronchoalveolar lavage?

Flexible bronchoscopy (FB) is a “test” that uses a camera to look at the voice box and air tubes in the lung. The camera, a light and a suction channel are all part of a soft, thin, bendable tube called a bronchoscope.  The bronchoalveolar lavage is done by putting some salty water down the suction channel and then sucking it up to look for any bugs that may be growing. This is to find the cause of lung problems your child may have. In children at Queensland Children’s Hospital (QCH), this is performed under a general anaesthetic. At QCH, about 550 of these tests are performed every year because it is a valuable test which gives important medical information for many respiratory conditions and helps to achieve a diagnosis and therefore leads to appropriate management of your child’s respiratory condition.

What is this study about?

FB is performed in children around Australia and around the world. However, not all doctors use the test to help assess, diagnose and treat patients who might have lung problems.  This is especially so in paediatric medicine even though FB is recommended in many guidelines.  While doctors have reported benefits for the procedure, it has not been examined in this fashion before. We aim to examine the impact of FB on quality of life and to accurate diagnosis and if it leads to a change in management. FB is a useful test that may impact on the doctor’s clinical decisions and on how the doctor explains a child’s lung condition to parents and children. We believe that FB will be helpful for children with respiratory problems; however there is currently no strong research evidence to support this.

In order to study the effect of FB on clinical practice, we aim to look at whether performing FB results in a diagnosis and/or a change in management and if it leads to a change in quality of life.

What are the aims of the study?

We want to find out if the use of spirometry affects:

1. The quality of life of parents and children with respiratory conditions
2. The clinical decisions of doctors who are treating children with respiratory conditionsWhat are the benefits of this study?

   This study will help inform more doctors about the potential benefits of FB for children with respiratory conditions.  It will help doctors to understand if FB improves clinical outcomes such as changes in clinical diagnosis and management, or quality of life.