Another disadvantage of this study was that bronchial washings may not always sample only those parts of the lung specifically affected by the disease.

Our earlier technique of preparing samples for polymerase chain reactions from bronchial washings entailed a simple single tube protocol that minimised handling and the possibility of contamination.

Primary tumor cannot be assessed, or tumor proven by the presence of malignant cells in sputum or bronchial washings but not visualized by imaging or bronchoscopy.

Same Genes, Different Cancers Another possibility, Dr. Minna said, would be to take lung cell samples from bronchial washings from smokers and look for cells that are starting to develop the sequence of alterations that lead to cancer.

In patients incapable of producing a sputum sample, common alternative sample sources for diagnosing pulmonary tuberculosis include gastric washings, laryngeal swab, bronchoscopy (with bronchoalveolar lavage, bronchial washings, and/or transbronchial biopsy), and fine needle aspiration (transtracheal or transbronchial).