collaboration between the Paediatric Bronchology Group

Bronchoalveolarlavage (BAL) is routinely performed in adults for sampling cellular and biochemical components. Many studies have been performed that have enabled the proposal of recommendations for BAL, methodology and processing, as well as reference values in different clinical settings. In contrast, despite a world-wide increase in the use of BAL in children, including neonates, there are, at the present time, no clear recommendations on the meth-odology, the clinical applicationsand the research areas for BAL. ATask Force on BAL in children has been approved by the European Respiratory Society (ERS) Task Force committee 1996. The objectives of this task force were: 1) to provide recommendations and guidelineson how to per-form BAL and how to process the return fluid in children; 2) to collect and discuss available reference values; 3) to list indications and results in both immunocompetent and immunocompromisedchildren; 4) to define areas for future research. This task force included paediatric respiratory physi-cians involved in bronchoscopy and BAL and was run as