David Beevers Unit

The Bronchoscopy department is located within the David Beevers Unit, located in Lincoln Wing, St James Hospital. The bronchoscopy department is staffed by a dedicated team of nurses and a number of diagnostic and therapeutic procedures are carried out here. These include;
Flexible fibre-optic bronchoscopy
Endobronchial Ultrasound (EBUS)
Indwelling Pleural Catheter placement
Medical Thoracoscopy

Nursing Staff

Pauline O’Leary
Amanda Lingard
Mandy Webb

Bronchoscopy

Flexible fibre-optic bronchoscopy is a useful test that helps in the diagnosis of a variety of respiratory conditions. It is a procedure carried out under light sedation and uses a fibre-optic camera (bronchoscope) to look inside the lungs. This test enables us to visually inspect the airways and to take samples in the form of bronchial washings or lavage, endobronchial and transbronchial biopsies.

EBUS-TBNA

Endobronchial Ultrasound guided Transbronchial Needle Aspiration (EBUS-TBNA) is a specialist type of bronchoscopy procedure that uses ultrasound to identify lymph nodes and other structures adjacent to the airways and then to take samples using guided needle aspiration. This is useful in the diagnosis of lung cancer and other causes of mediastinal lymph node enlargement.

Indwelling Pleural Catheter Placement

Placement of an indwelling pleural catheter is mainly used as a symptomatic treatment for patients with malignant pleural effusion. This involved inserting a tunnelled catheter into the pleural space. This catheter can then be connected to a drainage bottle to drain the fluid intermittently. Insertion of the catheter is done as a day case procedure and drainage can then be done by the District Nursing team reducing the need for hospital admission and repeated pleural procedures

Medical Thoracoscopy

Medical thoracoscopy is a procedure carried out under light sedation. It involves insertion of a camera (thoracoscope) into the pleural cavity. This allows inspection of the pleura and for biopsies to be taken if necessary. It is usually done for patients with a pleural effusion that is unexplained to help us get a diagnosis.

Talc pleurodesis may be performed during the procedure to prevent re-accumulation of pleural fluid. Alternatively a tunnelled indwelling pleural catheter may be placed (see above).