Abstract

Since its advent in the late 1960s, flexible bronchoscopy has revolutionized pulmonary practice. It allows the pulmonologist to examine the airways to the subsegmental level while obtaining diagnostic samples using techniques such as bronchoalveolar lavage, endobronchial biopsy, cytology brushing, transbronchial lung biopsy, and transbronchial needle aspiration. Even recent advancements in bronchoscopic technology have not rendered essential bronchoscopic techniques irrelevant, and the well-trained pulmonologist must be well versed in all of these techniques to provide optimal patient care.