Introductory course and professional exchange with colleagues in Ghana

A bronchoscopy team from the Medical University of Vienna and the Faculty of Medicine at Johannes Kepler University Linz spent a week in Kumasi, Ghana, to introduce colleagues to the technique of flexible bronchoscopy. Through lectures and hands-on workshops, Daniela Gompelmann, Christina Bal, Georg Murauer and Christian Stanislaw were able to teach colleagues in pneumology, thoracic surgery, pediatrics, ENT and emergency medicine the intricacies of this examination method in their own home country.

To date, bronchoscopies have only been possible to a limited extent in Kumasi, with rigid bronchoscopies being performed in particular. A flexible bronchoscope was only recently acquired there, but its use is very limited. Until now, patients who require a flexible bronchoscopy have had to travel to Accra, 250 kilometers away.

The need for such courses and the establishment of a bronchoscopy service in Kumasi is therefore of great importance. "It was a great pleasure for us to introduce our local colleagues to bronchoscopy in the hope that the flexible bronchoscope will now be used more frequently there," explains Daniela Gompelmann. She is Professor of Interventional Bronchiology at MedUni Vienna’s Department of Medicine II.

Bronchoscopy

Bronchoscopy is a medical procedure in which the airways and lungs are examined using a special instrument known as a bronchoscope. The bronchoscope is a thin, flexible tube that has a camera and a light source at its tip. It is passed through the trachea into the bronchi via the mouth or nose so that the doctor can view the inside of the airways on a monitor.