The role of surveillance bronchoscopy and bronchoalveolar lavage prior to heart transplantation

All patients had an elevated bronchitis score over that of normal controls. The cause of this bronchitis is likely multifactorial and was not uniformly predicted by broncial neutrophil counts, current smoking history, or PFT abnormality. All patients had, in addition to high bronchitis score, evidence of increased bronchial neutrophils and/or PFT abnormality or cancer. These findings lead to a change in management prior to heart transplantation.