Etiologic identification of chronic cough by bronchofibroscopy in children
To study the value of bronchofibroscopy in the etiologic identification of chronic cough in children. Under local anesthesia of lidocaine, bronchofibroscopy was performed in 118 children with chronic cough of unknown origin (73 males and 45 females). Their ages ranged from 3 months to 13 years. The cause of chronic cough was identified in 115 cases. The most common cause was respiratory infection (n=39),followed by bronchial foreign bodies (n=19), upper airway cough syndrome (n=17), bronchial asthma or cough variant asthma (n=17), bronchomalacia (n=7), bronchial congenital malformation (n=5), primary ciliary dyskinesia (n=3), gastro-esophageal reflux (n=3), bronchial tumor (n=2), bronchial tuberculosis (n=1), pulmonary fibrosis (n=1) and idiopathic pulmonary hemosiderosis (n=1). Bronchofibroscopy is useful in the etiologic identification of chronic cough in children.