| The bronchoalveolar lavage fluid cell analysis with normal lung and unaffected side lung of patients with minor symptoms or radiologic abnormalities. |
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Byung Il Kim, Chul Ho Cho, Shin Wook Kang, Seon Hee Cheon, Sang Ho Jang, Jang Hoon Lee, Joon Chang, Sung Kyu Kim, Won Young Lee |
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Department of Internal Medicine, Yonsei University College of Medicine Seoul, Korea |
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| Abstract |
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Bronchoalveolar lavage had been done as the treatment of some diseases such as alveolar protein.
sois, bronchiectasis, and severe asthma to remove excessive secretion or mucus. But in the recent decade it has been done as a diagnostic method and a tool to understand and evaluate the pathophysiology of diffuse interstitial lung diseases such as sarcoidosis, pneumoconiosis and hypersensitivity pneumonitis.
To analyse the bronchoalveolar fluid, it might be useful to have a standard reference (especially cell
counts and differential count of the cells from bronchoalveolar lavage fluid) of normal person. But it
is difficult to study the normal volunteers.
We investigated the bronchoalveolar lavage f1uid of 48 patients (28 nonsmokers, 20 smokers) who
visited Severance Hospital because of minor pulmonary symptoms such as cough and sputum. They
did neither complain of dyspnea nor cyanosis and had normal or unilateral minor lesions on physical
examination and chest X.ray. We analyzed the recovery rate, viability, total cell count and differential count of the cells in fluid obtained by bronchoalveolar lavage.
The following results were obtained:
1) Age ranged from 17 to 72 years-old with the mean age of 36 .7; there was no difference of age
between the nonsmoker and the smoker group. Male to female ratio was 2.43:1 for total group, 1. 15:
1 for nonsmokers, and 19:1 for smokers.
2) The diagnoses of the patients were undetermined in 41 .9%, healed pulmonary tuberculosis in 37 .
5%, laryngitis or pharyngitis in 10.4% and others in 10.4%.
3) Total cell number of the recovered fluid by bronchoalveolar lavage was significantly higher in
male[9 .6±6 .2( X106 )] than in female[5.1±3 .0( X106 )](p < 0.05), and there was no significant difference in the total cell number between the smokers and nonsmokers [9 .3±5 .8( X 106) vs 7.5±5 .8( x 108)]
4) The differential count of the cells from bronchoalveolar lavage fluid had no difference between the nonsmokers and the smokers.
5) There was no correlation between the total cell count and smoking or age.
6) In the smoker group, there was no correlation between the amount of smoking and the total cell count of the bronchoalveolar fluid.
In conclusion, it should be careful to regard the patients with symptoms or minor radiologic abnormalities as a control group in bronchoalveolar lavage study and further study of cell analysis in bronchoalveolar lavage will be needed between smoker and nonsmoker in the male and female healthy people. |
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