Role of the Bronchoalveolar Lavage in Noncritically Ill Patients during the SARS-CoV-2 Epidemic

• Published in: Pulmonary medicine Vol. 2020; no. 2020; pp. 1 - 9
• Main Authors: Elmaouhab, Kahina, Leduc, Dimitri, Delforge, Marie-Luce, Martiny, Delphine, Bauler, Alain, Van Laethem, Sébastien, Knoop, Christiane, Bondue, Benjamin, Papleux, Emmanuelle, Taton, Olivier, Montesinos, Isabel
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cairo, Egypt Hindawi Publishing Corporation 2020; Hindawi; John Wiley & Sons, Inc; Wiley
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Algorithms; Belgium; Bronchoalveolar Lavage; Coronaviruses; COVID-19 - diagnosis; COVID-19 Testing; CT imaging; Disease transmission; Dyspnea; Endoscopy; Epidemics; Female; Health care industry; Health Personnel; Hospitals; Humans; Infection; Infections; Laboratories; Lavage; Male; Medical imaging; Medical research; Medicine, Experimental; Middle Aged; Patients; Retrospective Studies; Sensitivity and Specificity; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Tomography, X-Ray Computed; Belgium; China

Background. Bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) is currently not recommended in noncritically ill patients for the diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Indeed, the diagnosis is based on the RT-PCR test on a nasopharyngeal swab (NPS) and abnormal findings on the chest CT scan. However, the sensitivity of the...