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Clinical Utility of Bronchoalveolar Lavage in a General Hospital
Bruce Krieger, MD;
Lourdes Blinder, MD;
Beria Cabello Inchausti, MD
Arch Intern Med. 1989;149(7):1605-1607.
Abstract
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• Although bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) performed through a fiberoptic bronchoscope is a valuable research tool, its clinical utility has been established in only two specific populations—the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome and immunosuppressed hosts with diffuse pulmonary infiltrates. We questioned whether BAL would be helpful in decision making in a general hospital setting. Eighteen patients, none of whom had the combination of immunosuppression and diffuse roentgenographic infiltrates and none of whom had acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, underwent BAL without any complications. The BAL fluid was analyzed in a hospital clinical laboratory using only stains that are generally used for bronchial washings. Retrospective analysis showed that in 9 cases (50%), the BAL analysis resulted in a significant alteration of therapy that would not have occurred using bronchial washings alone. Therefore, it appears that BAL can be safely performed in a general hospital on various patient populations, and that analysis in a nonresearch laboratory can yield clinically useful results.
(Arch Intern Med. 1989;149:1605-1607)
Author Affiliations
From the Division of Pulmonary Disease and the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Mount Sinai Medical Center, Miami Beach, Fla. Dr Blinder is now in private practice, Miami, Fla.
Footnotes
Accepted for publication March 4,1989.
Presented, in part, at the 1987 annual meeting of the American Thoracic Society, New Orleans, La, May 10-13, 1987.
Reprint requests to Division of Pulmonary Disease, Mount Sinai Medical Center, 4300 Alton Rd, Miami Beach, FL 33140 (Dr Krieger).
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