title: Significance of bronchial washings smear negativity in 'suspect' pulmonary tuberculosis.
abstract: The role of bronchial washings in patients with 'suspect' pulmonary tuberculosis was studied in 55 patients. Bronchial washings increased the diagnostic yield of tuberculosis by 28%. It was also able to accurately exclude active tuberculosis in 94% patients. Hence it is inferred that absence of acid-fast bacilli in smears of bronchial washings is equally important to exclude active tuberculosis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Tuberculosis & Chest Diseases, KMC Hospital, Manipal, Karnataka, India.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rao
mesh_terms: D001992:Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid / Q000382:microbiology*; D001999:Bronchoscopy; D006801:Humans; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D014397:Tuberculosis, Pulmonary / Q000382:microbiology*