Bronchoalveolar Lavage (BAL) and Tropical Lung Disease

The advent of fiberoptic bronchoscopy permitted bronchoalveolar (BAL) to become an easily performed well-tolerated diagnostic and investigative tool. The technique has opened up a helpful new window to the lungs. Changes in the quantity and pattern of BAL fluid and analysis of cells, cytokines have enabled us to broaden our understanding of respiratory and multisystem disorders. For obvious reasons of cost and availability he technique, to a large extent, has remained limited to thedeveloped world and the vast tropical and subtropical land masses have not had benefit of BAL analysis. Although many investigators have reported the range and cellular content of Bal fluid in normal individuals, the usefulness of such an evaluation in tropical lung diseases is over due.