• Kang Mo Gu, Hye Rin Kang, Jimyung Park, Nakwon Kwak, and Jae Joon Yim.
• Department of Internal Medicine, Chung-Ang University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
• J. Korean Med. Sci. 2021 Aug 9; 36 (31): e202.

BackgroundBronchoscopy is recommended for patients with suspected nontuberculous mycobacterial pulmonary disease (NTM-PD) whose sputum culture results are consistently negative or from whom adequate sputum samples cannot be obtained. Post-bronchoscopy sputum (PBS) collection is recommended for patients with suspected tuberculosis who undergo bronchoscopy. However, it remains unclear whether PBS collection can increase the diagnostic yield of NTM-PD.MethodsPatients with suspected NTM-PD who underwent diagnostic bronchoscopy from January 1, 2017 to June 30, 2020 at the Seoul National University Hospital were included in the study. They were divided into the sputum culture-negative and scanty sputum groups. The results of mycobacterial cultures from bronchial washing specimens and PBS were compared between these groups.ResultsIn total, 141 patients were included in the study; there were 39 and 102 patients in the sputum culture-negative and scanty sputum groups, respectively. Nontuberculous mycobacteria were cultured from bronchial washing specimens collected from 38.3% (54/141) of all patients (30.7% [12/39] patients in the sputum culture-negative group and 41.2% [42/102] patients in the scanty sputum group; P = 0.345). Nontuberculous mycobacteria were exclusively cultured from PBS collected from 3.5% (5/141) of all patients (7.7% [3/39] patients in the sputum culture-negative group and 2.0% [2/102] patients in the scanty sputum group; P = 0.255).ConclusionsAdditional PBS collection improved diagnostic yield marginally in patients with suspected NTM-PD who undergo bronchoscopy.© 2021 The Korean Academy of Medical Sciences.

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