From march 1989 to march 1992, three hundred and fifty six respiratory endoscopies were performed at -Hospital da Criança Santo Antônio-, Porto Alegre, Brazil. The endoscopies were performed with a rigid pediatric bronchoscope and under general anaesthesia. The most common indications for endoscopy were stridor (52%), suspected foreign body (16%), atelectasis (16%) and difficult tracheal extubation (8%). The most frequent diagnosis were laryngomalacia (36%) and subglottic stenosis (6%) in the glottic and subglottic areas, and foreign body (9%) and tracheomalacia (7%) in the tracheobronchial area. Normal endoscopy was observed in 54 (21%) of the children. Only three slight complications of the endoscopy were observed. Two patients presented bradycardia during the exam, and the third needed tracheal intubation due to post-endoscopic subglottic edema. This confirms that the rigid endoscopy in children is efficient and has no serious complications.
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