Sarcoidosis: analysis of cells obtained by bronchial lavage.

The cellular content of bronchial lavage was studied in 14 patients with sarcoidosis and 20 normal volunteers. There was no alteration in the total number of cells recovered, except for the expected increase in cellularity in smokers. Nonsmoking patients with sarcoidosis had 19.6 per cent lymphocytes, compared to 8.1 per cent lymphocytes in nonsmoking control subjects. The percentage of alveolar macrophages showing spontaneous adherence of one or more bronchial lymphocytes were, respectively, 10.8 and 8.4 in nonsmoking and smoking patients with sarcoidosis, compared to 1.8 and 2.1, respectively, in nonsmoking and smoking control subjects.