Background
Patients with lobar collapse often respond to intravenous antibiotics,
physiotherapy and mucoactive agents. The use of flexible bronchoscopy as
a ‘secondary’ treatment with 0.9% saline lavage and instillation of
rhDNase is described sparsely in the literature. Serial bronchoscopic
clearance of a lung collapse with rhDNase is documented in only one case
series report in CF patients with allergic bronchopulmonary
aspergillosis (ABPA)1.
Mycobacterium abscessus forms part of the Non-tuberculous
Mycobacterium (NTM) group that can cause pulmonary disease resembling
tuberculosis, especially in vulnerable hosts with underlying structural
lung disease, such as cystic fibrosis and
bronchiectasis2.