Current opinion in allergy and clinical immunology
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Curr Opin Allergy Clin Immunol · Apr 2009
ReviewInduced sputum and occupational diseases other than asthma.
Induced sputum noninvasively provides information on cellular and soluble material from airways. It has been successfully applied for assessing airway inflammation in asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, producing reliable results comparable to biopsy and bronchoalveolar lavage. Induced sputum research in the field of occupational medicine has mainly focused upon occupational asthma, and less to other types of occupational diseases. ⋯ Induced sputum is a well tolerated, noninvasive technique that is opening a new window in the field of occupational diseases of the lung and can be integrated into the well established criteria for diagnosing and monitoring these diseases, especially when invasive techniques are clinically contraindicated or impractical.