QuickStart EBUS Program
Endobronchial Ultrasound (EBUS) Bronchoscopy Program
The IP EBUS/Bronchoscopy program, including the QuickStart EBUS program, is run out of St. Mary’s General Hospital, 4th floor endoscopy wing.
What is bronchoscopy?
Bronchoscopy is a very safe, commonly performed test in where a thin bronchoscope with a video camera at the end is placed into a patient’s mouth, down past their vocal cords, into the large airways. EBUS/Bronchoscopy (or just EBUS) is an advanced form of bronchoscopy where, in addition to the camera, there is a small ultrasound probe at the end of the bronchoscope that can identify and assess lymph nodes. If irregular, these lymph nodes can be biopsied safely during the test by a small needle at the end of the EBUS. As there are no pain fibers in the lung, these biopsies are completely painless and a patient would not even be aware they are being done.
For your EBUS appointment, you will be instructed to arrive 1h before your appointment time to give you time to change into a hospital gown and have an IV inserted. For these tests, conscious sedation is used for your comfort. Depending on the patient, you may sleep through the test but you will remain breathing on your own and there is ample room to breath around the small camera. Overall, EBUS is extremely safe with a minor complication rate far less than 1%. Very rarely, your physician may elect to admit you to hospital after the test for observation and the most common reason for this would be an overreaction to the conscious sedation where the team felt you were too sleepy to be safely discharged after the test.
