Table 1.

Characteristics of the 5 studies included in the meta-analysis

author	year	Country	Source of patients	the number of specimens collected	the concentrations of hypertonic saline	the type of nebulizers	the culture techniques	Study type	Sample size	reference standard	Total TB diagnosis	type of bronchoscope specimens
Anderson [7]a	1995	Canada	tertiary health care unit	once	3%	DeVilbiss ultrasonic nebulizer	Middlebrook agar or Bactec Culture Systems	PS	101	1 or 2	27	BB1,BB2,BAL。
Conde [6]a	2000	Brazil	primary health units or tertiary health care unit	once	3%	DeVilbiss ultrasonic nebulizer	Löwenstein–Jensen and Sabouraud’s medium	PS	251	1 or 2	143	BAL
McWilliams [8]	2002	New Zealand	Tuberculosis specialist hospital	three	3%	DeVilbiss ultrasonic nebulizer	Bactec 12B and Lowenstein-Jensen media.	PS	129	1	27	BAL, BW
Saglam [5]a	2005	Turkey	tertiary health care unit	once	3%	ultrasonic nebulizer	Lowenstein-Jensen medium	PSM	55	1 or 2	49	BAL
Prakash [9]	2016	India	tertiary health care unit	once	3%	nebuliser	LowensteinJensen (L-J) medium	unclear	50	1	35	BAL

^a: Sufficient data for both Mycobacterial culture and acid-fast bacilli smear

PS prospective study, PMS Prospective multicenter study

1 = positive culture for Mycobacterium tuberculosis. 2 = unequivocal radiographic improvement after adequate treatment with anti-tuberculosis drugs

BAL bronchoalveolar lavage, BW bronchial washing, BB1 bronchial brushings, BB2 Bronchial biopsies