Respiratory medicine
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Respiratory medicine · Oct 2016
Bronchoalveolar lavage for the diagnosis of Pulmonary Langerhans cell histiocytosis.
The histologic diagnosis of Pulmonary Langerhans cell histiocytosis (PLCH) is invasive and can cause complications. To confirm the diagnosis of PLCH, guidelines therefore recommend measuring CD1a-positive bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) cells despite its poor sensitivity and specificity. Thus, an improved diagnostic accuracy of BALF cell analysis would be desirable. ⋯ BALF Langerhans cells are not increased in PLCH. However, PLCH is characterised by a low expression of CD80 on BALF myeloid DCs. Due to its considerably higher sensitivity and specificity, this marker appears to be more appropriate to diagnose PLCH than the currently recommended marker CD1a.