Lung probe equipment at NBMCH

TT, Siliguri, March 2: The North Bengal Medical College and Hospital has introduced a fibre optics bronchoscope to diagnose lesions in the lungs of patients.

The fibre optics bronchoscopy is a procedure which is carried out using a bronchoscope. A thin tube with video equipment fitted at the tip is inserted through the nose or the mouth into the lungs of a patient that helps doctors view the lungs for lesions. It is an advanced method of biopsy.

According to Indranath Ghosh, the head of the chest department, even though CT scan is usually conducted for detecting lesions, in some patients, the abnormal growth of tissue occurs in such places in the lungs which cannot be detected through the process.

"In a CT scan, guided biopsy, the location of the lesion is identified through CT scan imaging and a thin needle is pierced into the lungs to collect the tissue and fluid. However, in some cases, the lesion is located in a place that cannot be accessed with a needle. It may also be that the lesion is located near vital structures and the risk of piercing a needle from outside cannot be taken. But there are no such complications with bronchoscopy, where the tube is passed through the nose or mouth into the lungs using the bronchoscope," said Ghosh.

Ghosh added that the NBMCH had to send such patients to private hospitals for fibre-optic bronchoscopy where the procedure costs between Rs 3,500 and Rs 4,000. It is hard for poor patients to afford the procedure, so we decided to procure the necessary instruments and conduct it at NBMCH. For more than a month, we have been carrying out bronchoscopy at NBMCH free of cost."