BACKGROUND: Pneumonia is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in immunocompromised patients. Bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) is commonly used to help diagnose and characterize pneumonia in these patients. Mini-BAL is a less-invasive, less-costly and less-cumbersome diagnostic tool than BAL. OBJECTIVES: In this study, we compared the diagnostic value of BAL and mini-BAL in the evaluation of pneumonia in immunocompromised patients with respiratory failure. METHODS: Sixty-four respiratory samples were collected from 32 immunocompromised patients admitted to our respiratory intensive care unit with a clinical diagnosis of pneumonia and respiratory failure requiring invasive mechanical ventilation. A single BAL sample and a single mini-BAL sample were collected from each patient. Samples were examined for bacteriologic, mycologic, mycobacteriologic, and viral organisms. RESULTS: The mean age of the patients was 56.0 ± 14.4 years. Of the 32 BAL samples, bacterial isolates were detected in 11 patients (34.4%) and on the other hand bacterial isolates were detected in 10 patients (31.3%) of the mini-BAL samples. Fungal isolates were detected in 11 patients (34.4%) from BAL samples and 13 patients (40.6%) from mini-BAL samples. Our analysis demonstrated a strong positive correlation between the results of BAL and mini-BAL testing (r = 0.850 and r = 0.821, respectively). CONCLUSION: In this study, we demonstrated a strong correlation between the isolation rates of bacteria and fungi in BAL and mini-BAL samples obtained from immunocompromised patients with pneumonia and respiratory failure. The data strongly support the use of mini-BAL sampling in such patients as a less-invasive, less-costly and simpler alternative to traditional BAL.
BACKGROUND:Pneumonia is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in immunocompromised patients. Bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) is commonly used to help diagnose and characterize pneumonia in these patients. Mini-BAL is a less-invasive, less-costly and less-cumbersome diagnostic tool than BAL. OBJECTIVES: In this study, we compared the diagnostic value of BAL and mini-BAL in the evaluation of pneumonia in immunocompromised patients with respiratory failure. METHODS: Sixty-four respiratory samples were collected from 32 immunocompromised patients admitted to our respiratory intensive care unit with a clinical diagnosis of pneumonia and respiratory failure requiring invasive mechanical ventilation. A single BAL sample and a single mini-BAL sample were collected from each patient. Samples were examined for bacteriologic, mycologic, mycobacteriologic, and viral organisms. RESULTS: The mean age of the patients was 56.0 ± 14.4 years. Of the 32 BAL samples, bacterial isolates were detected in 11 patients (34.4%) and on the other hand bacterial isolates were detected in 10 patients (31.3%) of the mini-BAL samples. Fungal isolates were detected in 11 patients (34.4%) from BAL samples and 13 patients (40.6%) from mini-BAL samples. Our analysis demonstrated a strong positive correlation between the results of BAL and mini-BAL testing (r = 0.850 and r = 0.821, respectively). CONCLUSION: In this study, we demonstrated a strong correlation between the isolation rates of bacteria and fungi in BAL and mini-BAL samples obtained from immunocompromised patients with pneumonia and respiratory failure. The data strongly support the use of mini-BAL sampling in such patients as a less-invasive, less-costly and simpler alternative to traditional BAL.
Authors: Casey S Zelus; Michael A Blaha; Kaeli K Samson; Andre C Kalil; Trevor C Van Schooneveld; Jasmine R Marcelin; Kelly A Cawcutt Journal: Crit Care Explor Date: 2022-06-08
Authors: Momen M Wahidi; Samira Shojaee; Carla R Lamb; David Ost; Fabien Maldonado; George Eapen; Daniel A Caroff; Michael P Stevens; Daniel R Ouellette; Craig Lilly; Donna D Gardner; Kristen Glisinski; Kelly Pennington; Raed Alalawi Journal: Chest Date: 2020-05-01 Impact factor: 9.410
Authors: Elie Azoulay; Lene Russell; Andry Van de Louw; Victoria Metaxa; Philippe Bauer; Pedro Povoa; José Garnacho Montero; Ignacio Martin Loeches; Sangeeta Mehta; Kathryn Puxty; Peter Schellongowski; Jordi Rello; Djamel Mokart; Virginie Lemiale; Adrien Mirouse Journal: Intensive Care Med Date: 2020-02-07 Impact factor: 17.440
Authors: Michael A Pritchett; Catherine L Oberg; Adam Belanger; Jose De Cardenas; George Cheng; Gustavo Cumbo Nacheli; Carlos Franco-Paredes; Jaspal Singh; Jennifer Toth; Michael Zgoda; Erik Folch Journal: J Thorac Dis Date: 2020-05 Impact factor: 3.005