[Results of bronchial scrapings in interstitial pulmonary diseases in immunodeficient children (author's transl)]

Abstract

Endobronchial scraping was used in 53 immunodeficient children, aged 4 months to 15 years, and divided into three categories (37 receiving immunosuppression treatment, 8 with marasmus, and 8 with immunodeficiency), in order to determine the etiology of their interstitial pneumopathy. The examination was made under blind conditions in 21 cases using an intubation tube (under assisted ventilation), and with bronchoscopy under general anesthesia in the other 32 cases. Three scrapings were required for cytological, bacteriological, and virological and mycological examinations. In 32 cases (60%), the etiology of the interstitial pneumopathy was discovered; in 18 patients it was due to pneumocystis carinii, in 10 cases to bacterial infection, in 7 cases a viral infection, and in 3 others a fungal infection. An association of infective agents was reported in 6 cases. The major incident observed was a pneumothorax in 17% of the cases, more especially in 45% of the children under 20 months of age. Bronchial scraping is a valid examination the results and complications of which compare well with other non-vascular methods of diagnostic evaluation of such lesions.