Injury to the capillary endothelium and to alveolar epithelial cells of the lung may result in damage to the underlying collagen of the extracellular matrix. To examine this possibility, whole body irradiation, bleomycin injections, and exposure to hyperoxia were used to induce various types of lung damage in mice. The morphology of the lung and the cellular and protein content of bronchoalveol...

Ninety four dairy farmers were investigated by chest radiography, pulmonary function tests, and bronchoalveolar lavage. They were divided into five groups--1: 11 subjects with acute farmer's lung; 2: 25 subjects with previously diagnosed farmer's lung who had stayed on their farm; 3: 15 farmers with previously diagnosed farmer's lung who had left the farm; 4: 23 precipitin positive symptomless ...

The value of taking microbiological and cytological specimens by flexible bronchoscopy and bronchoalveolar lavage under local anaesthesia was assessed on 43 occasions in 35 HIV infected children, aged 3 months to 16 years, with interstitial pneumonitis. In acute interstitial pneumonitis (n = 22, 26 specimens from bronchoalveolar lavages) the microbiological yield was 73%, Pneumocystis carinii b...

Sixty seven patients with biopsy proven pulmonary sarcoidosis were prospectively studied to determine whether single point bronchoalveolar lavage cell counts were a useful indicator of functional outcome and whether repeated lavage helped in management. The mean follow up period was 25 (range 13-37) months. No patient was having corticosteroid treatment at the time of initial bronchoalveolar la...

INTRODUCTION Therapeutic total lung lavage under general anesthesia is the current mainstay of treatment for pulmonary alveolar proteinosis, which is a rare lung disease characterized by alveolar accumulation of surfactant. Therapeutic limited bronchoalveolar lavage is considered an alternative treatment to conventional total lung lavage. CASE PRESENTATION A 61-year-old, previously healthy, S...

A patient with mycosis fungoides involving the lung, presenting with ARDS, and diagnosed by bronchoalveolar lavage, is described. A review and correlation of chest radiographic manifestations and pathologic observations are presented. We stress the importance of obtaining a specific diagnosis in light of the tenuous radiographic-pathologic correlation and discuss procedures for diagnosis and th...

The results of bronchoalveolar lavage in three patients with a presumptive diagnosis of methotrexate induced lung disease are presented. Lavage fluid was characterised by the presence of large numbers of lymphocytes, which in two patients were predominantly lymphocytes of the T8 phenotype. These findings further support the hypothesis that immune mediated mechanisms may play a part in the patho...

Fiberoptic bronchoscopy and bronchoalveolar lavage are often followed by the development of fever and other influenza-like symptoms. We report the onset of these symptoms in a healthy volunteer following bronchoscopy and bronchoalveolar lavage; the symptoms were temporally associated with the dramatic elevation of serum levels of tumor necrosis factor. Our observations suggest that tumor necros...