Bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) is a procedure performed to obtain cells from the lungs to evaluate the cause of lung disease. A fiber-optic scope is passed into the section of lung to be examined while a small amount of physiologic saline is infused and then removed to be sent for examination.
Macrophages are frequently found in BAL and can be found singly or in clusters. Several macrophages are indicated by the blue arrows in the image on this page.
The elongated rectangular cell with the cilia at the end (indicated by the red arrow) is a bronchial lining cell. These cells are also frequently present in BAL samples.
