Laryngoscopy, Bronchoscopy and Oesophagoscopy

Endoscopic visualisation of the airway and digestive tract has made huge progress in the past decades. The early designs followed Nitze’s method of providing illumination with an incandescent bulb. These have now been replaced with flexible fibre-optic light systems and Hopkins rod-lens telescopes. At the same time, manufacturers have miniaturised many of these endoscopic instruments for use in infants and children. Much of this equipment remains expensive and, especially in children, fragile. Therefore such facilities may not be available in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), and children still die because of something as simple as an inhaled peanut.