title: Diagnostic Value of Bronchoalveolar Lavage for Diagnosis of Suspected Peripheral Lung Cancer.
abstract: There is a paucity of data concerning the benefit of bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) for the diagnosis of suspected peripheral lung cancer (PLC). The aim of this study was to investigate the diagnostic value of BAL for the diagnosis of suspected PLC.
  
  
  
  All flexible bronchoscopies that included BAL among other modalities (brush, forceps, washing) for the diagnosis of a suspected PLC performed between 2009 and 2013 were analyzed in this retrospective study.
  
  
  
  A total of 260 patients were included. Malignancy was present in 61%. BAL's sensitivity for the diagnosis of malignancy was 29%, and overall diagnostic yield of BAL was 46%. However, only 1% of cancer diagnoses would have been missed in the absence of BAL. In the multivariable analysis, the size of lesion (odds ratio [OR], 1.17; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.02-1.33; P = .023), the presence of bronchus sign (OR, 4.73; 95% CI, 1.06-21.08; P = .042), and the presence of mediastinal/hilar lymphadenopathy (OR, 3.37; 95% CI, 1.53-7.41; P = .002) were associated with improved BAL true-positive ratio relating to diagnosis of malignancy. However, the effect of lesion size on sensitivity was small (area under the curve, 0.31; 95% CI, 0.23-0.40; P < .001). Ground-glass lesions were not associated with improved BAL diagnostic value. The number needed to test for BAL for the diagnosis of malignancy or pulmonary infection was 37.
  
  
  
  Conventional BAL has a low diagnostic value for the diagnosis of suspected PLC, and the low number needed to test does not qualify BAL as a recommended routine investigation for the diagnosis of suspected PLC for either solid or ground-glass lesions.
authors.affiliation: Division of Pulmonology, University Hospital Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Pascal
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bezel
authors.affiliation: Institute for Surgical Pathology, University Hospital Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Verena
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Tischler
authors.affiliation: Division of Pulmonology, University Hospital Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Cecile
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Robinson
authors.affiliation: Institute for Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, University Hospital Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Stephan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Baumueller
authors.affiliation: Institute for Surgical Pathology, University Hospital Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Beata
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bode-Lesniewska
authors.affiliation: Division of Pulmonology, University Hospital Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Malcolm
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kohler
authors.affiliation: Division of Pulmonology, University Hospital Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Lutz
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Freitag
authors.affiliation: Division of Pulmonology, University Hospital Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland. Electronic address: daniel.franzen@usz.ch.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Franzen
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001992:Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid / Q000166:cytology*; D001999:Bronchoscopy / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008171:Lung Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D012141:Respiratory Tract Infections / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
keywords: Bronchoalveolar lavage; Bronchoscopy; Diagnostic value; Lung cancer; Pulmonary infection