Comparison of Bronchoalveolar Lavage and Mini-Bronchoalveolar Lavage in the Diagnosis of Pneumonia in Immunocompromised Patients

Background: Pneumonia is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in immunocompromised patients. Bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) is commonly used to help diagnose and characterize pneumonia in these patients. Mini-BAL is a lessinvasive, less-costly and less-cumbersome diagnostic tool than BAL. Objectives: In this study, we compared the diagnostic value of BAL and mini-BAL in the evaluation of pneumonia in immunocompromised patients with respiratory failure. Methods: Sixty-four respiratory samples were collected from 32 immunocompromised patients admitted to our respiratory intensive care unit with a clinical diagnosis of pneumonia and respiratory failure requiring invasive mechanical ventilation. A single BAL sample and a single miniBAL sample were collected from each patient. Samples were examined for bacteriologic, mycologic, mycobacteriologic, and viral organisms. Results: The mean age of the patients was 56.0 8 14.4 years. Of the 32 BAL samples, bacterial isoReceived: July 22, 2010 Accepted after revision: November 27, 2010 Published online: February 28, 2011 M. Sezai Tasbakan Department of Chest Diseases Ege University School of Medicine TR–35100 Izmir (Turkey) Tel. +90 232 39