Broncoscopy Procedure

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James - 08 Oct 2007 11:12 GMT

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Hello I have a friend who is over 60 years of age he has had wheezing etc coughing up green phelgm which he was treated by his General Practitioner (Doctor) for over 3 months with various courses of Antibiotics now of them worked, the GP never did blood tests,however he did a Chest X Ray which showed up nothing.eventually he decided enough was enough and went to a Private Respiratory Consultant who did some tests and ordered a Broncoscopy and breathing tests too he never had access to the X Ray results

He checked with a Asthma Nurse she said that to be having a Broncoscopy was strange unless the Consultant was using him for Medical Research which is unethical

Apparently with the Broncoscopy Procedure they give you drugs Midazalopam to sedate
and "Atropine" antispasmotic to dilate blood vessels apparently I have checked on the Internet this Drug should never be given to the over 60's

Any of you heard about this?
Should he go ahead with the procedure?
What are the alternatives?

I read that CAT Scan is non invasive and requires no drugs.

Thanks,

James

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Jason - 08 Oct 2007 22:22 GMT

> x:no-archive:yes
>
> Hello I have a friend who is over 60 years of age he has had wheezing etc coughing up green phelgm which he was treated by his General

Practitioner (Doctor) for over 3 months with various courses of
Antibiotics now of them worked, the GP never did blood tests,however he
did a Chest X Ray which showed up nothing.eventually he decided enough was
enough and went to a Private Respiratory Consultant who did some tests and
ordered a Broncoscopy and breathing tests too he never had access to the X
Ray results

> He checked with a Asthma Nurse she said that to be having a Broncoscopy was strange unless the Consultant was using him for Medical Research which

is unethical

> Apparently with the Broncoscopy Procedure they give you drugs Midazalopam to sedate
> and "Atropine" antispasmotic to dilate blood vessels apparently I have checked on the Internet this Drug should never be given to the over 60's
[quoted text clipped - 8 lines]
>
> James

James,
Each case is different so it's difficult to answer your questions. Another
problem is that none of us know the various medical problems that the
patient may have. For example, the doctor that wants to do the Broncoscopy
may want to rule in or rule out a cancer tumor as the cause of his medical
problems. The doctor may also be trying to find out the exact source of
the infection. As you stated, the antibiotics do not appear to be working.
As you may know, it's difficult for doctors to know which type of
antibiotics that should be used unless they know the exact source of the
infection.

If the doctor does suspect cancer, a biopsy would be a better option than
a Broncoscopy.

I suggest that you advise the patient to get a second opinion.

Jason

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00doc - 10 Oct 2007 01:38 GMT

> x:no-archive:yes
>
[quoted text clipped - 21 lines]
>
> I read that CAT Scan is non invasive and requires no drugs.

All of it might be reasonable or not depending on the circumstances. The one
thing that I can say is almost surely unreasonable was the nurse offering
such an opinion with incomplete information. A CT would offer different
information than a bronchoscopy. The two are not really interchangeable.

Rather than asking nurses who don't know his case and then have a friend
who also doesn't know it ask strangers on the usenet who really don't know
it about whether he is being well treated why not have the patient ask his
doc why he wants to do the tests he has ordered and why he doesn't think a
CT first would be in order? If the doc gives satisfactory answers then do
the procedure. If he does not then seek a second opinion.

Deciding for yourself what drugs the guy might give after an Internet search
and then condemning him for it is just so far beyond reason that I can't
even comment.

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00doc

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