Endoscopic Collection of Neoplastic Cells and Tubercle Bacilli from the Bronchi: (Description of a New Irrigation-suction Collector and the Anatomical, Physiological, and Pathological Factors Involved)

Abstract

1)The endoscopic approach to the positive diagnosis of pulmonary neoplasms and tuberculosis is discussed and compared to standard methods. 2)The anatomical, physiological, and pathological mechanisms concerned in the recovery of neoplastic cells and tubercle bacilli are described. 3)A new irrigation-suction cell and tubercle bacillus collector which permits collection from lower subdivisions of the bronchi is described in detail. 4)The apparatus described permits either selective or seriatim irrigation and suction of the lobar bronchi or of the approachable segmental bronchi making possible diagnoses in a more limited anatomical area.