Bronchoscopic evaluation in childhood pulmonary tuberculosis: risk factors of airway involvement and contribution to the bacteriologic diagnosis.

We aimed to describe the risk factors of airway involvement and to investigate the contribution of bronchoscopy in the bacteriologic diagnosis of tuberculosis. Airway involvement was more often present in patients with resistance to tuberculosis therapy than in the patients having bronchoscopy performed at initial presentation. Addition of bronchoalveolar lavage to the diagnostic workup increased the mycobacteriologic yield statistically.