New specialist book on BAL diagnostics published

Bronchoalveolar lavage, BAL diagnostics for short, also known as lung washing, is used during bronchoscopy to obtain samples from the deep lower airways. Recognised worldwide as a standard procedure, a comprehensive specialist book that brings together all the findings and new research results on this topic has been lacking until now.

The book "Bronchoalveolar Lavage in Basic Research and Clinical Medicine" by biologists and physicians from the Cologne-Mehrheim Clinic, University Hospital of the University of Witten/Herdecke (UW/H) - Oliver Schildgen, Verena Schildgen and Michael Brockmann - fills this gap. On 172 pages, it offers an in-depth insight into the world of BAL diagnostics and deals with various clinical pictures from chronic diseases such as COPD to infectious diseases such as COVID-19 and hereditary diseases such as cystic fibrosis, both in adult and paediatric medicine.

International expertise enriches the textbook

Oliver Schildgen, lecturer at the UW/H, emphasises: "In our book, we show that the combination of pathology/cytology and virology/microbiology is effective in BAL diagnostics. What is special is that internationally renowned experts from the field of pulmonary medicine have contributed to the book. This emphasises the importance of the topic."

The textbook, supported by illustrations and clinical cases, is primarily aimed at pulmonologists, cytologists, pathologists, clinicians and trainees in the fields of respiratory medicine and infectious diseases. It not only provides guidelines and theoretical background, but also gives detailed information on various measurement options for specific findings, and looks to the future by highlighting current and future applications of BAL diagnostics in research and clinical medicine.

The book is published by the renowned CRC Press/Taylor Francis and is now available online and in selected bookshops.