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Purpose: A prospective study to determine the usefulness of quantitative bacterial cultures of fluid obtained via fiberoptic bronchoscopy and bronchoalveolar lavage as an aid in the diagnosis of bacterial pneumonia., Patients and Methods: All patients undergoing fiberoptic bronchoscopy with bronchoalveolar lavage during a 6 1/2-month period. Presence of pneumonia was determined using clinical, radiographic, laboratory, and histologic data. Quantitative bacterial cultures of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid were determined using a 1-microL culture loop., Results: Quantitative bacterial cultures of bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid were sensitive and specific predictors of bacterial pneumonia. Using 10(3) colony-forming units (cfu)/mL as the threshold value for a positive culture, we determined the sensitivity and specificity to be 90% and 97%, respectively. The data were also analyzed for the subgroups of patients who were intubated or were receiving antibiotics. The sensitivity and specificity were 78% and 96% for the group of patients receiving antibiotics and 100% and 82% for the group of patients intubated for more than 24 hours at the time of BAL. Values for the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve for the 3 groups were 0.94, 0.88, and 0.96, respectively., Conclusions: Quantitative bacterial cultures of BAL fluid are sensitive and specific in the diagnosis of bacterial pneumonia. The use of antibiotics at the time of BAL reduces the sensitivity of the test, and prolonged intubation reduces the specificity of the test.

Purpose: The purpose of our work was to evaluate pulmonary complications in autologous bone marrow transplant recipients., Patients and Methods: A total of 141 consecutive autologous bone marrow transplant recipients were evaluated. In 29 patients, a clinical syndrome characterized by progressive dyspnea, hypoxia, cough, diffuse consolidation on chest roentgenography, and characteristic bronchoalveolar lavage findings developed over one to seven days., Results: In 29 patients, bronchoalveolar lavage performed by sequential instillation and aspiration of 20-ml aliquots of normal saline resulted in recovered lavage fluid that became progressively bloodier with each recovered aliquot. Autopsy and bronchoalveolar lavage in these patients revealed no pathogens that accounted for the clinical findings. Since the later aliquots sample predominantly alveolar material, this syndrome was termed diffuse alveolar hemorrhage (DAH). DAH was associated with a high inpatient mortality rate (23 of 29 died versus 14 of 112 without DAH, p less than 0.001) and was associated with age over 40 years, solid malignancies, high fevers, severe mucositis, white blood cell recovery, and renal insufficiency (p less than 0.05, compared with patients without DAH). However, DAH was not associated with prolonged prothrombin or partial thromboplastin times or decreased platelet counts compared with patients without DAH., Conclusion: DAH is a frequent cause of respiratory compromise and a major cause of mortality in autologous bone marrow transplant recipients.