[Bronchoscopic biopsies of sarcoidoses in the stage I and II (author's transl)]

The material of the present study includes 96 cases of intrathoracic sarcoidosis, phase I and II. Diagnosis was established bronchoscopically in 63.5% of patients examined. The best results were obtained by trans-bronchial needle-biopsy at bronchoscopy. In phase I, this method established the diagnosis in 76.5% of cases, in phase II in 48%, and in the whole material (phase I and II together) in 64.4%. Biopsy of the bronchial mucous membrane gave a lower percentage of diagnosis: in phase I--32.5%, in phase II 48.7%, and in the whole material--40.2%. Needle-biopsy of the lymph nodes and two or three bronchial biopsies simultaneously proved to be the method of choice: Sarcoidosis was diagnosed in 80% of cases in which these two methods were used. Bronchoscopic methods are effective, well tolerated and do not entail any serious complications.