Evaluation of laboratory examination of Bronchial Wash Versus Sputum Examination in Diagnosing Lung Diseases

Abstract

Sputum study and bronchial wash study are considered two of the most common well known classic diagnostic tools in detecting various lung diseases among the wide and continuously expanding diagnostic procedures for detection of lung pathology.Sputum study still play a rule in diagnosis of lung diseases but the sensitivity of the sample is highly depended on the procedure of collection and the co-operation of the patient, the type and the site of lung lesion.Fiber optic bronchoscopy is another option providing both direct visualization of the trachea-bronchial tree and the bronchial wash collected by the fiber optic bronchoscopy provides important information for detection of various lung diseases. the study was conducted in ramadi teaching general hospital. This is a comparison prospective study of 45 consecutive patients whom underwent both sputum collection and bronchoscopy for bronchial wash collection and comparing the results of the patients which showed that among the 45 patients 33 patients had inconclusive or negative sputum studies while 12 patients had positive sputum study in comparison with bronchial wash which give positive results in 41 patients. This study confirms that the sensitivity of bronchial wash is much higher than bronchial wash is much higher than the sputum study in diagnosing lung diseases and the higher sensitivity usually associated with abnormal chest x-ray.the study confirms the importance of these tools for rapid diagnosis of a disease with starting immediate therapy, economic value in reducing time-admission period in the hospital with high necessity to support a staff well trained on bronchoscopy to ensure rapid and accurate diagnoses of chest diseases.