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Bronchoalveolar lavage in the diagnosis of cancer

  • Bronchoalveolar Lavage In Lung Cancer
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Abstract

Bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) is a widely used clinical procedure. To determine if BAL could provide useful information in the detection of cancer, 850 lavages from 421 patients having BAL for a variety of indications, 50 lavages in patients with Hodgkin’s disease and 20 patients with breast cancer undergoing bone marrow transplant were reviewed. BALs were performed with 5 successive 20 cc aliquots in a wedged position. The return from the first aliquot was processed separately from the subsequent four aliquots. Diff-Quik stained cytocentrifuge preparations and Papanicolaou stained millipore filter preparations were analyzed. Thirty-five patients had biopsy-proven lung cancer. In 24 (68.6%) of these, BAL revealed cells diagnostic of malignancy. There were no false positives. Six out of 50 Hodgkin’s disease patients had Reed Sternberg cells detected on BAL, and 7/20 breast cancer patients had malignant cells on BAL prior to chemotherapy. In summary, the routine performance of BAL, an easily performed and well-tolerated procedure, may prove to be useful in the routine assessment of patients for cancer.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine Section, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Nebraska Medical Center, 600 So. 42nd St, 68198-2465, Omaha, NE, USA

    Stephen I. Rennard

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  1. Stephen I. Rennard
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This work was co-authored by the members of BAL task group working for lung cancer: C. Albera, R. Cordeiro, W. Bauer, H. Eckert, J. Linder, M. Pirozynski, S. I. Rennard, C. Sanguinetti, G. Semenzato, I. Striz, H. Teschler, and G. Velluti; with contributions from W. Bauer, L. Bjermer, R. Cordeiro, U. Costabel, C. Danel, C. F. Conner, P. Godard, T. W. Higenbottam, D. Israel-Biet, J. Linder, F. X. Marchandise, M. P. Pirozynski, R. J. Pisani, L. W. Poulter, C. M. Sanguinetti, G. Semenzato, Y. Sibille, I. Striz, G. Velluti, and A. Venet.

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Rennard, S.I. Bronchoalveolar lavage in the diagnosis of cancer. Lung 168 (Suppl 1), 1035–1040 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02718241

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