Bronchoalveolar lavage

Bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL is a medical procedurein which a bronchoscopeis passed through the mouthinto the lungsand fluid is squirted into a small part of the lung and then recollected for examination. BAL is typically performed to diagnoselung disease. In particular, BAL is commonly used to diagnose infectionsin people with immune system problems, pneumoniain people on ventilators, some types of lung cancer, and scarring of the lung (interstitial lung disease).

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