Use of bronchoalveolar lavage semiquantitative cultures in cystic fibrosis.

To assess bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) in adult CF patients with respiratory symptoms, we studied BAL fluid (BALF) culture results from 28 bronchoscopies in 11 patients. Patients were asked to provide sputum for culture. All but two patients were receiving antibiotics at the time of bronchoscopy, with 13 bronchoscopies done on patients who had been receiving antibiotics for more than 10 d. Gram stain of the BALF was positive in 18 cases. In all but one BALF, > 10,000 colony-forming units per milliliter (cfu/ml) BALF of one or more pathogens was identified. The final case grew Burkholderia cepacia, which was not grown in the sputum. In only six cases (21%) were the sputum and BALF culture results the same. Prior to 11 bronchoscopies, the sputum was not adequate. The remaining 11 cases either had different pathogens in the BAL (six cases), or had some but not all of the BALF pathogens in the sputum. BALF cultures changed therapy in 13 (48%) of cases. Semiquantitative culture of BALF was a useful diagnostic tool in CF in patients in whom empiric therapy failed.