The unit is the busiest in this country with over 1,000 elective procedures performed annually. It is one of the few centres in the region providing a comprehensive spectrum of bronchoscopic services.
Our procedures are mainly performed in the Inpatient and Lung Endoscopy Centre (ILEC) on an outpatient basis. It houses the only endoscopy suite entirely reserved for bronschoscopic procedures in Singapore. Our bronchoscopy suite is maintained at negative pressure to the surroundings with 12 air exchanges per hour, which makes it a legitimate airborne infection isolation room.
Bronchoscopy is a procedure that allows your doctor to examine the airways using a bronchoscope (a thin flexible tube with a video camera attached to its end). Click on the video link below to learn more.
Bronchoscopy
Diagnostic services include flexible bronchoscopy, bronchoalveolar lavage, bronchial biopsy, transbronchial lung biopsy under fluoroscopy (including cryobiopsy), virtual bronchoscopic navigation (VBN), and endobronchial ultrasound (EBUS).
EBUS-convex probe transbronchial needle aspiration (TBNA) and radial probe.
Endobronchial Ultrasound is a minimally invasive bronchoscopic procedure used for the diagnosis and staging of lung cancer.
The convex probe enables visualization of mediastinal lymph nodes and biopsy (EBUS-TBNA) under real time guidance for lung cancer staging.
The radial probe allows more precise localization and biopsy of small peripheral lung lesions and is an important modality in the early diagnosis of peripheral lung cancer.
Both services are available in the department and we have a team of bronchoscopists who are proficient in these procedures.
Virtual Navigation Bronchoscopy (VBN) uses CT imaging data to map out pathways through the airways to reach peripheral lung nodules. Combined with other diagnostic modalities, VBN allows bronchoscopists to perform transbronchial lung biopsy with greater accuracy.
