ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: The diagnosis of chronic hypersensitivity pneumonitis (CHP) is based on relevant exposure, tomographic findings and, in some cases, pathological data. The role of bronchoscopy is uncertain, especially in the fibrotic form of CHP. AIM: To analyze the yield of transbronchial biopsy (TBBx) in patients with CHP according to tomographic findings and to evaluate the importance of bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) in the diagnostic approach. METHODS: This retrospective study analyzed patients with CHP who underwent TBBx in São Paulo, Brazil. The TBBx findings were classified as characteristic (granulomas and/or multinucleated giant cells, associated or not with peribronchiolar infiltration of lymphocytes and plasma cells and bronchiolocentric distribution) and supportive (data indicative of small airway injury: peribronchiolar metaplasia, organizing pneumonia, and intra-alveolar foamy macrophages). RESULTS: One hundred nine patients were included. The presence of characteristic findings of HP was seen in 16 patients (14.7%), and supportive findings were seen in 32 patients (29.4%), with a total yield of 44%. Pathological characteristic findings were more common in cases without fibrosis on high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) (27.3% vs. 9.2%, p= 0.014), whereas the presence of supportive findings was more common in fibrotic HP (38.1% vs. 9.1%, p= 0.002). Fifty-two patients had differential cytology in BAL fluid. Lymphocytosis (> 20%) was present in 51.9% of the patients. There was no difference in the median lymphocyte count according to nonfibrotic and fibrotic tomographic findings on HRCT. CONCLUSION: TBBx and BAL fluid cytology have a role in CHP diagnosis.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the value of differential cytology of bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) in common interstitial lung diseases (ILDs) and its relation with high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) fibrosis. STUDY DESIGN: A retrospective analysis of BAL from 91 patients. The total and percentage of cells were collected and analyzed according to published guidelines. RESULTS: The main diagnoses were connective tissue diseases (n = 24), hypersensitivity pneumonitis (HP) (n = 15), sarcoidosis (n = 12), idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) (n = 14), smoking-related interstitial lung diseases (sr-ILDs) (n = 8), aspiration (n = 8), and others (n = 10). The lymphocyte percentages differed among diagnoses (F = 2.85, p = 0.008). A greater number of lymphocytes were found in sarcoidosis (Md = 20%, IQR = 12-45%), HP (Md = 29%, IQR = 13-55%), and organizing pneumonia (Md = 28, IQR = 9-50%). No patient with IPF presented with > 25% lymphocytes in BAL. In 6/15 (40%) of the HP cases, the percentage of lymphocytes was < 25%. A total of 56 participants (62%) displayed HRCT findings that were indicative of fibrosis. In those cases the percentage of lymphocytes was 10.1 (IQR = 6.1-18.0) as compared with 20.2% (IQR = 9.7-37.5) of those 35 cases without fibrosis (p = 0.007). In patients with fibrosis in HRCT, the percentage of neutrophils was 11.3 (IQR = 4.1-21.4) as compared with 3.8 (IQR = 1.4-3.8) in those without fibrosis (p = 0.009). CONCLUSION: Several patterns in differential cytology are observed in common ILDs. The presence of fibrosis has an impact on these findings.
Subject(s)
Bronchoalveolar Lavage/methods , Cytological Techniques , Fibrosis/pathology , Lung Diseases, Interstitial/pathology , Alveolitis, Extrinsic Allergic/diagnosis , Alveolitis, Extrinsic Allergic/pathology , Diagnosis, Differential , Female , Fibrosis/diagnosis , Humans , Lung Diseases, Interstitial/classification , Lung Diseases, Interstitial/diagnosis , Lymphocyte Count , Male , Pulmonary Fibrosis/diagnosis , Pulmonary Fibrosis/pathology , Tomography Scanners, X-Ray ComputedABSTRACT
O Staphylococcus epidermidis, antes considerado saprófita humano e agente contaminante de culturas, tem sido apontado cada vez mais freqüentemente como causador de graves infecçöes. Apresentamos um caso de penumonia nosocomial por esse agente e uma revisäo da literatura sobre o assunto
