A simple method of bronchoalveolar lavage.
Twenty-eight ventilated paediatric intensive care patients, mean age 4.1 +/- 4 years, who had had a simple method of nonbronchoscopic bronchoalveolar lavage (NB-BAL) performed were reviewed. The NB-BAL technique involved blindly wedging a 5 or 8F infant feeding catheter endobronchially and lavaging one millilitre per kg saline using a syringe. Adequate samples were collected in 87% of the NB-BAL specimens. In two of the four inadequate specimens, Pneumocystis carinii was still able to be identified. Additional information not obtained from the tracheal aspirate culture was seen in 71% of the NB-BAL samples. One-third of the patients also had a bronchoscopic BAL or a lung biopsy performed and the culture results were all identical to those obtained from NB-BAL. No significant complications were seen. Oxygenation and ventilation were not altered by the technique. We conclude that NB-BAL performed using a syringe and infant feeding catheter is a simple and cheap method that produces good alveolar samples in the majority of cases.
Schindler
M B
MB
Department of Critical Care, Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Cox
P N
PN
D000293:Adolescent; D001419:Bacteria / Q000302:isolation & purification; D001992:Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid / Q000382:microbiology*; D002404:Catheterization / Q000295:instrumentation; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007440:Intubation / Q000295:instrumentation; D008168:Lung / Q000378:metabolism / Q000382:microbiology*; D010101:Oxygen Consumption; D011010:Pneumocystis / Q000302:isolation & purification; D013594:Syringes; D007507:Therapeutic Irrigation / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D014780:Viruses / Q000302:isolation & purification