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The importance of bronchoscopy for the removal of foreign bodies or the aspiration of secretions is well established, as is its recognition as a vital diagnostic procedure. The difficulty of thorough inspection of the bronchi of the upper lobes remains, however, a serious handicap.
The removal of foreign bodies or of anything which obeys the law of gravity rarely requires inspection of the bronchi of the upper lobes ; however, internists and surgeons who are concerned with the diagnosis and treatment of pulmonary pathologic processes can ill afford to dispense with information about them. The bronchoscopist is therefore called on for a report on the entire tracheobronchial tree including the bronchi of the upper lobes, for they, as well as the bronchi of the middle and lower lobes, may be the site of malignant growth or of manifestations which might be of diagnostic significance.
Fig. 1.—The distal end of the