Aspiration in bronchoscopic practice

Frequency and variants of aspiration with gastric contents were studied on the basis of 13 328 (100%) primary bronchoscopies performed in patients with nonspecific non-tumor lung pathology. Aspiration into the lower airway with gastric contents was detected in 82 (0.616%) patients. In the majority of patients included in the study group, the clinic of aspiration was masked by the clinic of the underlying disease. Several variants of aspiration with gastric contents were proposed based on the results of the studies: simple aspiration with gastric contents, simple multiple aspiration with gastric contents, complex multiple aspiration with gastric contents and combined multiple aspiration with gastric contents. Maximum problems of visual bronchoscopic diagnosis are associated with simple aspiration of gastric contents, because the presence of gastric juice is often obscured by the presence of bronchial secretion. No correlation of specific lower respiratory tract aspiration variants by gastric contents with specific nosological forms of the leading non-tumor lung pathology was not identified.