Neutrophil percentages in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid: Implications for diagnosing bacterial pneumonia in patients with immunocompromise and neutropenia.

Among patients with bacterial pneumonia, BALF neutrophil percentage was not significantly decreased by a spectrum of immunocompromise. However, the subset of patients who were acutely neutropenic at the time of BAL sampling had significantly lower BALF % neutrophils. A traditional approach using BALF<50% to suggest against bacterial pneumonia may be inaccurate in this particular population.