Broncho-alveolar lavage in lung transplantation.

Broncho-alveolar lavage was performed on normal and transplanted lungs of dogs that had received unilateral autografts or allografts without immuno-suppression. Differential cell counts were performed on the lavage fluid. Allografts showed a progressive rise in the proportion of neutrophils from the operated lung compared to the unoperated lung. Rejection in the operated lung was subsequently confirmed histologically. Autografted lungs showed no differences in differential cell counts from the unoperated side. Differential cell counts on broncho-alveolar lavage specimens may be useful as an indication of lung allograft rejection.