PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - dos Santos, Cláudia Lares
AU  - Moura e Sá, João
AU  - Duarte, Raquel
TI  - The role of bronchoalveolar lavage in suspected pulmonary tuberculosis with negative sputum
DP  - 2011 Sep 01
TA  - European Respiratory Journal
PG  - p4390
VI  - 38
IP  - Suppl 55
4099  - https://publications.ersnet.org//content/38/Suppl_55/p4390.short
4100  - https://publications.ersnet.org//content/38/Suppl_55/p4390.full
SO  - Eur Respir J2011 Sep 01; 38
AB  - Introduction: Patients with suspected pulmonary tuberculosis and negative sputum samples constitute a problem that is not uncommon in clinical practice. Fiberoptic bronchoscopy is an alternative method of collecting respiratory samples that plays an important role in such cases.Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess the yield of bronchoalveolar lavage in early diagnosis of negative sputum smear pulmonary tuberculosis and its value in obtaining other diagnoses.Methods: The study was conducted for 27 months in a central hospital. Bronchoscopy was performed in patients after three consecutive negative sputum smears for acid-fast bacilli, in order to obtain bronchoalveolar lavage samples. Written informed consent was obtained.Results: The overall diagnostic yield of fiberoptic bronchoscopy was 39% (39 out of 100) and included 18% of other diagnosis than tuberculosis with 3 cases of malignant disease. Through bronchoalveolar lavage smear and nucleic acid amplification test for M. tuberculosis an immediate diagnosis was obtained in 57.1%. Median time to positive culture was lower in bronchoalveolar lavage compared to sputum (p=0.001). The global resistance to antituberculosis drugs was 19%.Conclusions: Bronchoalveolar lavage samples were helpful in the management of smear negative pulmonary tuberculosis. The procedure had good diagnostic yield and contributed to the diagnosis of other diseases.