[The Role of Bronchoalveolar Lavage in the Diagnosis of Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis: An Investigation of the Relevance of the Protein Content].

Although bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) is often used in the diagnosis of interstitial lung diseases (ILDs), its importance in investigating, in particular, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is controversial. The cell distributions in the BAL are taken into account in the clinical routine, non-cellular characteristics of the BAL play no role.Using mathematical modeling of data, the present work investigated the extent to which BAL features enable drawing conclusions about the underlying ILK or help exclude IPF.

[Nitric oxide in exhaled breath of patients with interstitial lung diseases].

Background: Nitric oxide (NO) in exhaled breath is a marker of inflammation in bronchial asthma. Its role in interstitial lung disease has so far not been established.

Objectives: The present study investigates exhaled NO in patients with interstitial lung diseases using constant flow and flow independent NO exchange parameters.

Bronchoalveolar lavage in interstitial lung diseases: does the recovery rate affect the results?

Background: Bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) is an established diagnostic tool in interstitial lung diseases. BAL frequently yields findings of diagnostic value and at times even confirmatory diagnostic results.

Objectives: The present study has been designed to investigate whether the recovery rate affects BAL results relative to the instilled volume.

[Guidance of the pulmonary artery catheter by echocardiography].

Background: Pulmonary artery catheterisation plays an important role in the diagnosis of and therapy for pulmonary hypertension. Usually the pressure waveforms show the actual position of the catheter. In the case of inadequate waveforms X-ray fluoroscopy is recommended to avoid complications such as catheter malpositioning or knotting.

[Pulmonary sarcoidosis -- clinical and bronchoscopic findings in relation to the radiographic stage].

Unlabelled: The classification of pulmonary involvement in sarcoidosis is based upon the radiographic stage of disease. We investigated 170 patients with new detected sarcoidosis (stage I / II / III: 79 / 39 / 52) for differences between the stages in demographic data, lung function values and results of BAL. With a multinomial logistic regression model to estimate probabilities, we found an increased probability for stage I with lower age (p < 0.