“Aspiration is a process whereby material from the oropharynx and stomach enter the larynx or lower respiratory tract; it is reported to occur in 10.3% of patients who are diagnosed with community-acquired pneumonia and 30% of patients with pneumonia who are admitted from a long-term care facility. Approximately 90% of patients in intensive care units (ICU) also experience aspiration events at least once during their ICU stay.
Aspiration pneumonia is an infectious and inflammatory process of microorganisms, which colonize in the aspirated materials. It has been demonstrated that bronchoscopy accompanied with bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) is helpful for patients with aspiration-induced lung injury in order to reveal causative organisms and determine the appropriate duration of antibiotic treatment. It is also known that the initial administration of appropriate antibiotics can lower the mortality rate in these patients.”

“This study showed that EB may improve clinical outcomes in patients with mechanically ventilated aspiration pneumonia whose diagnosis is supported by the probability of aspiration and consolidation confirmed by CT in dependent areas. This result was still
statistically significant after adjusting some variables affecting mortality.
The overall benefit of diagnostic bronchoscopy for microbiology in regard to the clinical outcome of pneumonia is well known. A recent study reported that bronchoscopic toilet could lower the incidence of pneumonia, length of stay and mortality in ICU patients with a tracheostomy. Other studies suggested that bronchoscopy in pneumonia with inhalation injury could help decrease the ICU length of stay, hospital costs and even mortality by resolving airway occlusion. Moreover, refractory asthma and pulmonary alveolar proteinosis patients may benefit from bronchoscopy by removing immunological airway material. These studies implied that therapeutic bronchoscopy may benefit patients with pneumonia or pneumonitis by reducing airway inflammation. In the same context, bronchoscopy, especially done earlier, for aspiration pneumonia in the ICU may also have a beneficial effect on clinical outcome by removing aspirated inflammatory and contaminated material.”

Lee, Hyun Woo et al. “Clinical impact of early bronchoscopy in mechanically ventilated patients with aspiration pneumonia.” Respirology (Carlton, Vic.) vol. 20,7 (2015): 1115-22. Full Text for Emory Users