title: Suspected Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia with a negative induced sputum examination. Is early bronchoscopy useful?
abstract: In U.S. patients with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia is the most frequent AIDS-defining opportunistic infection. Sputum induction and bronchoscopy are effective techniques for obtaining specimens used to identify P. carinii although debate continues over their optimal use, specifically whether to perform bronchoscopy after a negative induced sputum examination for P. carinii. To evaluate the usefulness of bronchoscopy in this situation, we reviewed all cases of suspected P. carinii pneumonia in which sputum induction for P. carinii was performed at San Francisco General Hospital during a 4-yr period. Bronchoscopy, performed after a negative induced sputum examination, yielded a diagnosis in 50.5% of evaluations. The most frequent diagnoses were P. carinii pneumonia (192), tracheobronchial Kaposi's sarcoma (93), tuberculosis (28), and Cryptococcus neoformans pneumonia (9). Bronchoscopy provided either the only or an earlier diagnosis in 64.3% of tuberculosis cases. Bronchoscopy with BAL was free of complications, and, importantly, a negative BAL examination for P. carinii allowed physicians to discontinue empiric P. carinii pneumonia treatment in 95%. In patients with suspected P. carinii pneumonia with a negative induced sputum examination for P. carinii, early bronchoscopy with BAL should be performed.
authors.affiliation: Medicine Service, San Francisco General Hospital Medical Center, California, USA.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: F M
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Hecht
authors.forename: J D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Stansell
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Montanti
authors.forename: W K
authors.initials: WK
authors.lastname: Hadley
authors.forename: P C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Hopewell
mesh_terms: D017088:AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology; D001706:Biopsy; D001984:Bronchial Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D001992:Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid / Q000382:microbiology; D001999:Bronchoscopy / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D006801:Humans; D011010:Pneumocystis / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D011020:Pneumonia, Pneumocystis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D012495:San Francisco / Q000453:epidemiology; D012514:Sarcoma, Kaposi / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D013183:Sputum / Q000382:microbiology*; D013997:Time Factors; D014134:Tracheal Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology