Bronchoscope is an instrument used to examine the trachea and the bronchial tubes of the lungs. The most common type of bronchoscope used is the fiber-optic bronchoscope, a thin, flexible tube that transmits light by means of glass or plastic fibers (see Fiber optics ).
A physician inserts a bronchoscope through the patient’s mouth or nose into the throat and lungs. It lets the physician detect diseased areas that cannot be seen by X rays. Small forceps, sucking needles, and brushes can be passed through a narrow channel of the bronchoscope. Physicians use these devices to remove foreign bodies, to obtain samples of lung tissue, and to biopsy tumors—that is, to remove and examine a sample of tissue from them.
