Microbiologic And Cytologic Results For Lavages

支气管肺泡灌洗标本通常分为细胞学和微生物实验室分析。由于这两个实验室在处理这些标本时使用了不同的方法，我们认为有必要对每个实验室在这些标本上获得的结果进行审查。这样的审查可能有助于确定所使用的不同程序的相对敏感性，建议可能需要消除的冗余区域，并有助于确定最有可能产生临床显著结果的程序。迄今为止分析的数据结果表明，细胞学制剂比微生物学制备的涂片对直接检测重要的真菌病原体更敏感，可能是因为细胞学涂片制备所用的材料体积更大。收集了大约7年的数据，并对其进行了部分分析，以评估两个实验室所执行的程序的相对敏感性，不仅对真菌，而且对其他病原体（如结核分枝杆菌和卡氏肺囊虫）的检测。为了处理更紧迫的项目，暂时推迟了对数据的进一步分析；我们希望在明年完成分析，也许会包括更多的最新数据。

Bronchoalveolar lavage specimens are usually split between cytology and microbiology laboratory analysis. Because different methodologies are used by these two laboratories in the work-up of these specimens, we thought it would be useful to review the results obtained on these specimens by each laboratory. Such a review might help define the relative sensitivities of the different procedures used, suggest areas of redundancy that might be candidates for elimination, and help identify the procedures most likely to produce clinically significant results. Results from the data analyzed thus far indicate that cytology preparations are more sensitive for the direct detection of significant fungal pathogens than the smears prepared in microbiology, presumably because of the larger volume of material used for preparation of smears in cytology. The data for approximately 7 years have been collected and partially analyzed to assess the relative sensitivities of the procedures performed in the two laboratories not only for fungi but also for the detection of other pathogens such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Pneumocystis carinii. Further analysis of the data has been temporarily postponed to deal with more pressing projects; we hope to complete the analysis within the next year, perhaps with the inclusion of more recent data.