Bronchoalveolar lavage studies in pulmonary tuberculosis (editorial)

Bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) studies are useful to assess the lower respiratory tract inflammation and to study the pathogenesis of various lung diseases (1). Even though potent chemotherapeutic regimens are available currently to treat patients with pulmonary tuberculosis, radiographic and pulmonary function abnormalities persist in a proportion of tuberculosis patients despite treatment (2). Evaluation of lung immune process in pulmonary tuberculosis using BAL may aid in understanding the mechanism of lung injury and fibrosis which, in turn, may help to formulate modalities of treatment that prevent fibrosis. In addition, since BAL samples the epithelial lining fluid of the alveoli, it is possible that it may aid in early diagnosis of sputum smear negative pulmonary tuberculosis