The bronchoscopic phases of suppurative pulmonary disease can best be presented under two heads: (1) bronchoscopic aid to diagnosis in pulmonary suppuration, and (2) bronchoscopic aid in treatment of pulmonary suppuration.
The diseases of the lung in which the pathologic processes result in suppuration are numerous. The suppurative lesion may be primary or secondary, and is always a matter for careful differential diagnosis. The etiologic factors are many and are often obscure. Two or more conditions may coexist. In arriving at a final, positive diagnosis, one should use every available diagnostic aid. The most valuable aid in all diagnostic fields is inspection of the lesion by direct vision. In a great many of the patients with suppurative disease of the lung, this can be done by bronchoscopic examination.
Some of the conditions in which the bronchoscope has been of special aid in a positive diagnosis are:
1.