The appropriate treatment of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) must be based on accurate diagnosis, which can be done by microbiological examination of the samples obtained from the respiratory tract by nonbronchoscopic bronchoalveolar lavages (NB-BAL). This study was designed to determine the effectiveness of NB-BAL in diagnosing VAP in newborns. Two hundred and seven NB-BAL samples were o...

Bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) has been crucial in elucidating the immune effector cells involved in the inflammatory processes in idiopathic interstitial pneumonias [1]. Despite its value as a research tool, the diagnostic usefulness of BAL in idiopathic interstitial pneumonias is limited. An increase in neutrophils and/or eosinophils and/or lymphocytes may be seen. The idiopathic interstitial p...

Forty-seven bronchoalveolar lavages (BAL) were obtained from 41 patients with acute pneumonia attending an intensive care unit. By molecular diagnosis, 30% of total BAL and 63% of bacteria-negative BAL were positive for respiratory viruses. Molecular detection allows for high-rate detection of respiratory viral infections in adult patients suffering from severe pneumonia.

Two cases of pulmonary alveolar proteinosis were treated with bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) via a fibreoptic bronchoscope. Additional clinical improvement was seen when trypsin was added to the lavage fluid. Analysis of effluents in the BAL fluid showed marked reduction of protein constituents with clinical improvement after treatment with trypsin in the lavage. BAL with trypsin was well tolerated.

RATIONALE Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BAL) from human lung allografts demonstrates the presence of a multipotent mesenchymal stromal cell population. However, the clinical relevance of this novel cellular component of BAL and its association with bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome (BOS), a disease marked by progressive airflow limitation secondary to fibrotic obliteration of the small airways,...

The aim of this study was to determine the relative production of chemokines interleukin-8 (IL-8), regulated on activation, normal T-cell expressed and secreted (RANTES) and monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1) by intrinsic and extrinsic asthmatics. Nine intrinsic asthmatics, 10 extrinsic asthmatics, five nonatopic and five atopic controls underwent bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL). Total BAL cel...

BACKGROUND The single-breath N(2) test (sbN(2)-test) is closely related to small airways pathology in resected lung specimens of smokers. We investigated whether uneven ventilation and airway closure are associated with specific markers of airway inflammation as obtained by bronchial biopsies, BAL, and induced sputum in patients with manifest COPD. METHODS Fifty-one patients with stable COPD ...

BACKGROUND Granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) is known as a potent neutrophil chemotactic glycoprotein in vitro but its contribution to chemotactic activity in neutrophil mediated lung diseases is not yet known. The aims of this study were to determine whether G-CSF is present in high concentrations in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid of patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis ...

MicroRNA signatures of BAL cells and alveolar macrophages are currently lacking in IPF. Here we sought to investigate the expression of fibrosis-related microRNAs in the cellular component of the BAL in IPF. We thus focused on microRNAs previously associated with fibrosis (miR-29a, miR-29b, miR-29c, let-7d, and miR-21) and rapid IPF progression (miR-185, miR-210, miR-302c-3p miR-376c and miR-42...