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John F. Ansley, MD; Nina L. Shapiro, MD; Michael J. Cunningham, MD

Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 1999;125:774-776.

Objective  To assess the incidence of bacteremia following rigid tracheobronchoscopy in children to determine whether use of prophylactic antibiotics is warranted in pediatric patients at risk for perioperative endocarditis.

Design  Prospective nonrandomized clinical study.

Setting  Specialty care referral center.

Patients  Patients younger than 18 years undergoing diagnostic rigid tracheobronchoscopy for airway assessment. Twenty-five patients (14 boys and 11 girls) were enrolled. The mean age was 5.2 years (range, 10 months to 13 years).

Interventions  Blood samples for culture were obtained intraoperatively at 2 time intervals. The first culture was obtained after the induction of mask anesthesia prior to airway instrumentation; the second, within 5 minutes following the completion of tracheobronchoscopy. Blood cultures were performed under sterile technique and were placed into 20 mL of brain heart infusion broth. All cultures were incubated at 35°C and observed for growth over a 14-day period.

Results  There were no documented cases of bacterial growth in blood cultures. All blood cultures, obtained before and after tracheobronchoscopy, were negative for bacterial growth after incubation for 14 days. Two culture bottles yielded contaminant organisms.

Conclusions  Rigid tracheobronchoscopy in the pediatric population is a low-risk procedure for the development of bacteremia. This may bear on present guidelines regarding perioperative antibiotic prophylaxis for endocarditis in the high-risk population.

From the Department of Otolaryngology, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, and the Department of Otology and Laryngology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mass. Dr Shapiro is now with the Division of Head and Neck Surgery, UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, Calif.

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