Therapeutic bronchoalveolar lavage in pulmonary infections
Katoh, M.; Ikawa, M.; Yamane, Y.
Nihon Kyobu Shikkan Gakkai Zasshi 26(4): 359-366
1988
ISSN/ISBN: 0301-1542 PMID: 3221575 Document Number: 310423
Complete recovery was observed in 12 out of 14 patients with bacterial pneumonia treated by a single bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) with latamoxef in the infected segment without additional systemic administration of antibiotics. Assay of latamoxef in sputum and serum after BAL suggested that the antibiotic acted on the infected foci at concentrations highly exceeding the minimum concentrations against the causative organisms. Three refractory cases of gram-negative bacterial infection (one case of abscess formation, infected bronchiectasis, and infection superimposed on old tuberculosis), which had been resistant to conventional intravenous antibiotic infusion, were successfully treated by a single BAL in the affected segments using gentamicin or latamoxef without additional systemic administration of antibiotics. This method can not only shorten the therapeutic period of bacterial pneumonia, but also can be a useful tool for the treatment of complicated pulmonary infections.