N. Shinagawa*a (Dr), Y. Takashimab (Dr), M. Kashimab (Dr), D. Morinagab (Dr), S. Itob (Dr), M. Satob (Dr), K. Tsujib (Dr), H. Takahashib (Dr), T. Shojib (Dr), M. Furutab (Dr), T. Shichinohec (Dr), S. Konnoa (Prof)

a Division of Respiratory Advanced Medical Device Development, Hokkaido University Hospital, Sapporo, JAPAN ; b Department of Respiratory Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Graduate School of Medicine, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, JAPAN ; c Center for Medical Device Development, Hokkaido University Hospital, Sapporo, JAPAN

* naofu@pop.med.hokudai.ac.jp

Background and Objectives: The Olympus bronchoscope is equipped with an insertion tube rotation function, but there are few reports on its usefulness. We evaluated the amount of movement of bronchoscopists, difficulty, and operability of the bronchoscope with and without the bronchoscope insertion tube rotation function.

Methods: This study was performed in two cadaveric body by 10 bronchoscopists. The study was approved by the medical ethics committee of Hokkaido University School of Medicine (Approval No. 021-0111) and conducted in compliance with laws and guidelines. The primary endpoint was amount of movement of the bronchoscopists which was evaluated by motion capture. The bronchial generations that could be inserted of bronchoscope and the time required for insertion were also evaluated. In addition, the difficulty level of the bronchoscopists was evaluated in a questionnaire with a maximum of 5 points immediately after the operation.

Results: Bronchoscopist body movement during bronchoscopy for simulated lesions was significantly reduced in all lobes (p<0.05). The difficulty of the bronchoscopists was significantly easier in the insertion tube rotation function use group in total for insertion into all segmental branches (3.9 points vs. 3.3 points, p<0.05). On the other hand, there was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of insertable bronchial generations. Furthermore, in the test for inserting biopsy forceps to simulated target lesions, the difficulty of the bronchoscopists (3.9 points vs. 3.2 points, p<0.05) and the assistance (4.0 points vs. 2.0 points, p<0.05) were significantly easier in the insertion tube rotation function use group, respectively. The time to reach simulated target lesions was significantly shorter in the left lung using the insertion tube function group (20.4 sec. vs. 24.0 sec., p<0.05).

Conclusion: The insertion tube rotation function of bronchoscope reduces the difficulty of operating the bronchoscope and improves the insertion operability.

Disclosure of funding source(s):

Research funding: Olympus, Olympus Medical Systems