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Bronchoalveolar lavage studies in children without parenchymal lung disease: Cellular constituents and protein levels
Author(s) -
Midulla Fabio,
Villani Alberto,
Merolla Rocco,
Bjermer Lief,
Sandstrom Thomas,
Ronchetti Roberto
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
pediatric pulmonology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.866
H-Index - 106
eISSN - 1099-0496
pISSN - 8755-6863
DOI - 10.1002/ppul.1950200211
Subject(s) - medicine , bronchoalveolar lavage , parenchyma , lung , respiratory disease , pathology , gastroenterology , immunology
We evaluated bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BAL) for cellular constituents, concentration of total protein (TP), albumin (AL), fibronectin (FN), and hyaluronic acid (HA) in 16 children aged 2‐32 months without pulmonary inflammatory or parenchymal disease to establish reference values. We compared our data to those reported in older children and in normal adult volunteers. BAL results were obtained simultaneously from the right middle lobe and the lingula. Results indicated that children younger than 3 years of age had a higher number of cells/mL than older children and adults (59.9 × 10 4 vs. 17.6 × 10 4 and 12 × 10 4 ). Differential cell count revealed that the percentages of alveolar macrophages (AM), lymphocytes (LYM), and eosinophils (EOS) were similar to those obtained in older children and in adults, whereas the percentage of neutrophils (NEU) was higher in younger children (NEU 5.5 vs 1.6 and 1.2%, respectively) than in older children and adults. The latter difference was even greater in infants under 12 months of age (NEU 7.6%). The concentrations of TP, AL, FN, and HA in children's BAL samples were compared to values reported for adults. There were no differences between infants and children 13–32 months of age or normal adults. BAL fluid obtained simultaneously from the middle lobe and lingula were not significantly different. In conclusion, this is the first report on BAL values (cellular and noncellular constituents) in children younger than 3 years. The results may be used as reference values for further studies in children with parenchymal lung disease in this age group. Pediatr Pulmonol. 1995; 20:112–118 . © 1995 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.