[Characteristics of cellular populations obtained during broncho-alveolar lavage in man. Contribution in respiratory disease (author's transl)].
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to J J Lafitte.
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In 19 patients suffering from lobar pneumonia and treated with antibiotics, bronchoalveolar lavages were performed in attempt to follow the course of the biological disorders caused by the pulmonary bacterial infection. The cytologic study of the fluid harvested from 14 patients with normal immune reactivity showed, firstly, a polymorphonuclear leucocytosis and, after about ten days, a lymphocytosis, reaching 30 to 70% of the alveolar cell population. These cell disorders existed only in the lobe affected by the pneumonia process. In five alcoholics (one of them also splenectomized), the polymorphonuclear leucocytosis lasted 15 to 25 days and the lymphocytosis was delayed and moderate. We also searched for the pneumococcal antigen by counter-current immunoelectrophoresis using a polyvalent antiserum. We found it in 13 patients, 7 with a positive hemoculture for pneumococcus and 6 negatives. Clearance of this antigen was slow, non modified by alcoholism. We found this antigen in two patients later, between the 90th and 110th days, in the lavage fluid concentrated fifty times. The quantitative and qualitative study of the immunoglobulins revealed considerable individual variations, owing to the variable intensity of the local inflammation phenomenons and to the technical difficulties of their dosage in the lavage fluid.
Inhalation of hytrast powder, allows a visualisation of the larynx, trachea and main bronchi. The pharynx and segmental bronchi are seldom opacified. Areas without ventilation are never visualized.
Routine abdominal and thoracic computed tomography examinations in 20 patients with invasive lympho-epithelial thymomas demonstrated the frequency of abdominal localizations (9 cases), particularly in renal (7 cases) and adrenal (3 cases) tissues. The mode of extension and course during treatment of these tumors are discussed, and the different diagnostic procedures, particularly ultrasonography, are compared.
Most of the mucins isolated from the sputum of patients suffering from cystic fibrosis are acidic. Acidic mucins from a child suffering from cystic fibrosis were degraded by alkali treatment. Analysis of the degradation products demonstrated the wide heterogeneity of the carbohydrate chains linked to the mucin polypeptide moiety. However, this heterogeneity of carbohydrate chains is probably not restricted to mucins from patients with cystic fibrosis. Bronchial mucins were prepared either from the sputum of different patients belonging to blood group O or B and suffering from cystic fibrosis, chronic bronchitis and other chronic bronchial diseases, or from bronchial washings performed in macroscopically healthy area of the bronchial tree of subjects belonging to blood group O. The chemical composition of each mucin fraction was established and an average carbohydrate chain length was estimated. Acidic mucins isolated from the sputum of two children suffering from cystic fibrosis were more sulfated than sialylated and their average carbohydrate chain length was relatively large. These characters were not specific for cystic fibrosis since they were also found in acidic mucins of two children suffering from other bronchial diseases. Most of the acidic mucins isolated from the sputum of three adults suffering from chronic bronchitis were more sialylated than sulfated and had a relatively short average carbohydrate chain length. The sputum of these patients also contained a variable proportion of neural or weakly acidic mucins. The mucins isolated from bronchial washings performed in macroscopically healthy areas of the bronchial tree were acidic molecules whose acidic characteristics and average carbohydrate chain length were about the same as for acidic mucins from patients with chronic bronchitis.