A new bronchofiberscope for the study of diseases of very peripheral airways.

A new device, the BF-1.8T, has been designed to go through the 2.6 mm channel of the conventional fiberoptic bronchoscope (Olympus BF type ITR). It measures 1.8 mm in outer diameter; it has a visual angle of 75 degrees, a range of observation of 3 to 30 mm, an effective length of 950 mm, and a total length of 1120 mm. The tip can extend from the wedge of the outside endoscope by up to 180 mm, providing safe manipulation by the examiner. The results of four cases were briefly presented out of nearly 100 so far examined in our hospital. Selective alveolobronchography (SAB) was simultaneously performed because SAB could be done easily and the results were complementary to the direct observation which was obtained with the BF-1.8T. These data were also correlated with the results of transbronchial lung biopsies.