Interlobar differences in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid from children with cystic fibrosis

Abstract

Bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) performed in specialist centres has improved the understanding of infant cystic fibrosis (CF) lung disease. As most researchers sample from a single lobe, it was determined whether BAL results could be generalized to other lung segments. Thirty-three CF children, aged 1.5-57 months, underwent in random order sequential BAL of their right middle and lingula lobes. Specimens from each lobe had separate quantitative bacteriology, cytology and cytokine analysis. Bacterial counts ≥1 x 105 colony forming units (cfu)·mL-1 were observed in nine (27%) subjects, including six involving only the right middle lobe. These six children had similar inflammatory indices in their..