• Eun Sun Kim, Eui-Chong Kim, Sang-Min Lee, Seok-Chul Yang, Chul-Gyu Yoo, Young Whan Kim, Sung Koo Han, and Jae-Joon Yim.
• Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine and Lung Institute, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
• Korean J. Intern. Med. 2012 Jun 1;27(2):156-62.

Background/AimsEarly diagnosis and appropriate antimicrobial choice are crucial when managing pneumonia patients, and quantitative culture of bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid is considered a useful method for identifying pneumonia pathogens. We evaluated the quantitative yield of BAL fluid bacterial cultures in patients being treated with antimicrobials and attempted to identify factors predictive of positive BAL cultures.MethodsPatients over 18 years old and whose BAL fluid was subjected to quantitative culture to identify the organism causative of pneumonia between January 1, 2005, and December 31, 2009, were included. We reviewed the results of BAL fluid bacterial cultures and the clinical records, laboratory tests, and radiographic findings of the patients.ResultsBAL was performed on 340 patients with pneumonia. A positive BAL culture, defined as isolation of more than 10(4) colony forming units/mL bacteria, was documented in 18 (5.29%) patients. Of these, 9 bacteria isolated from 10 patients were classified as probable pathogens. The most frequently isolated bacteria were methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, Acinetobacter baumannii, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. No independent predictive factor for positive BAL cultures was identified.ConclusionsThe yield of quantitative BAL fluid bacterial culture in patients already on antimicrobials was low. Clinicians should be cautious when performing a BAL culture in patients with pneumonia who are already on antimicrobials.

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