[Cellular composition of bronchopulmonary lavage fluid in pulmonary tuberculosis]

Bronchoalveolar lavage fluids from 219 patients with active pulmonary tuberculosis were analyzed. This may suggest that the lymphocytic reaction in the pulmonary tissue is major in tuberculosis (as in other pulmonary granulomatoses) and different factors among which there are most important ones, including lung tissue decay, bacterial abundance, concurrence of nonspecific inflammation, appear as higher rates and magnitude of neutrophilic reactions. It should be noted that in 19.2% of patients with active pulmonary tuberculosis, the bronchoalveolar fluid cytogram is normal (significantly more common in males), i.e., it shows no lung tissue response to a pathological process.