1990 Volume 12 Issue 1 Pages 51-58
Endoscopic findings and TBLB histological findings were examined in 22 cases with hematological disorders, in the course of which subjective and objective respiratory symptoms occurred and bronchoscopy was performed. Intrathoracic lesions of these 22 cases comprised cellular infiltration of the tumor (5 cases), swelling of hilar and mediastinal lymph nodes (5 cases), pneumonia and pulmonary mycosis (4 cases), pulmonary carcinoma (2 cases), organized pneumonia (2 cases), acute bronchitis (1 case), in addition to chronic obstructive lung disease (2 cases) old pulmonary tuberculosis (1 case) and pneumoconiosis (1 case) as underlying diseases. Five cases in which bronchoscpic findings were obtained and which were all malignant lymphoma included the primarily submucosal type (4 cases) and primarily mucosal type (1 case). Of 5 cases with tumor cellular infiltration due to underlying diseases observed in the pulmonary area, 4 and 1 were ATL and Hodgkin's disease, respectively and TBLB obtained a definite diagnosis in 4. TBLB in addition to histological and clinical findings enabled us to obtain a diagnostic rate of 9/12 (75%) in 12 cases with various lesions in various areas of the lung, associated with hematological disorders. The only complication observed was slight pneumothorax in one case. For respiratory complications of hematological disorders, TBLB was considered to be useful as a comparatively safely test in certain cases.
