Bronchoalveolar Lavage

Bronchoalveolar Lavage or BAL is a minimally invasive procedure that involves instillation of sterile normal saline into a subsegment of the lung, followed by suction and collection of the instillation for analysis. This procedure is typically facilitated by the introduction of a flexible bronchoscope into a sub-segment of the lung. The procedure was popularized in 1974 by the work of American physicians, Reynolds and Newball, in Maryland. Today, it serves predominantly as a diagnostic tool for the evaluation of lower respiratory tract pathology and in some uncommon conditions, it also has therapeutic utility.