| Summary: | Objective: To assess the incidence of bacteremia following bronchoscopy to determine whether the use of prophylactic antibiotics is warranted in patients at risk of endocarditis.
Design: Prospective nonrandomized clinical study.
Settings: Bronchoscopy Unit of Chest Department and Thoracic Surgery Department, and Microbiology Laboratory of Ain Shams University Hospitals, Cairo, Egypt.
Patients: Forty-five patients undergoing diagnostic and therapeutic bronchoscopy.
Interventions: Blood samples for culture were obtained before and immediately after the procedure.
Results: There were no documented cases of bacterial growth in blood. Two culture bottles yielded contaminant.
Conclusion: Bronchoscopy is a low-risk procedure for the development of bacteremia. This may bear on present practice regarding perioperative antibiotic prophylaxis for endocarditis in the high-risk groups.
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