Evaluation of the diagnostic utility of fiberoptic bronchoscopy for smear-negative pulmonary tuberculosis in routine clinical practice*,** Avaliação da utilidade diagnóstica da fibrobroncoscopia óptica na tuberculose pulmonar BAAR negativa na prática clínica de rotina

We evaluated the diagnostic yield of fiberoptic bronchoscopy for the diagnosis of smear-negative pulmonary tuberculosis in patients treated at a referral hospital in Lima, Peru. Of the 611 patients who underwent the procedure, 140 (23%) were diagnosed with tuberculosis based on the analysis of BAL samples. Being young and being male were significantly associated with positive cultures. In addition, 287 patients underwent postbronchoscopic sputum smear testing for AFB, the results of which increased the diagnostic yield by 22% over that obtained through the analysis of BAL samples alone. We conclude that the analysis of BAL samples and post-bronchoscopic sputum samples provides a high diagnostic yield in smear-negative patients suspected of having pulmonary tuberculosis.