Broncholaveolar Lavage in Sarcoidosis

Bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) has been used as a research tool in sarcoidosis for more than 20 years. BAL investigations of cells and mediators contributed much to the understanding of the pathogenesis of the disease. BAL has some use in the diagnosis of the sarcoidosis, but by itself is not sufficient to make a specific diagnosis. Perhaps, its major function will be in monitoring the response to therapy, and helping to decide which drugs to give to the individual patient. BAL can also be used for “proof-of-concept” studies in the clinical development of new drugs, as it is suitable to study the cellular and biological changes induced by them. It is not clear whether repeated BAL measurements give better information to assess the evolution of disease. At the time being, BAL should not be routinely applied to patients with sarcoidosis during the follow-up studies.