Clinical, radiological and histopathological profile of patients with endobronchial lesions on fibreoptic bronchoscopy

Various pulmonary diseases, both benign as well as malignant, manifest in the form of endobronchial lesions on bronchoscopy. Malignancy is frequently the provisional diagnosis in the mind of a chest physician undergoing an endobronchial biopsy. Other benign diseases, however, may present similarly on bronchoscopy and computerized tomography (CT) scan. This observational study was conducted to better understand why there is such a wide range of endobronchial lesions with even more diverse radiological and pathological presentations. The research was carried out at the Department of Respiratory Medicine, Himalayan Institute of Medical Science (HIMS), Swami Ram Nagar, Dehradun. Subjects were recruited from HIMS, Dehradun patients over a 12-month period (August 2020 to July 2021). The study included patients (over the age of 18) who had a fibreoptic bronchoscopy and were found to have an endobronchial lesion. After a thorough history, examination, and application of the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 120 patients were enrolled. The majority of patients were between the ages of 56 and 65, with males outnumbering females. The majority of the patients were smokers, and the most common complaint was shortness of breath. Poorly differentiated carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma were the most common endobronchial lesions in men, while small cell carcinoma was the most common in women. A mass lesion was the most common radiological finding, followed by mediastinal lymphadenopathy, and an exophytic lesion was the most common endobronchial lesion detected in bronchoscopy. We looked at the diseases that cause endobronchial lesions and their clinico-radiological and histopathological profiles. This study clearly demonstrates the importance of studying the histopathological profiles of patients with endobronchial growth, which can mimic malignancy in rare cases.