[Bronchoscopic diagnosis of therapy refractory pneumonia]

In 73 patients with pneumonia treated empirically with antibiotics or antimycotics, a bronchoscopy with bronchoalveolar lavage was performed in an attempt to identify the pathogens involved. Patients in whom it proved possible to detect a specific pathogen showed a lower mortality rate than did those in whom it was not possible to clarify the aetiology of the pneumonia (24 per cent and 34 per cent, respectively). In patients receiving empirical treatment over a long term, pneumonia persisted longer, and the mortality rate was higher, than in patients who were submitted to invasive examination early on.