Table 2.

Recommendations for the transport of the recovered BAL fluid according to Meyer et al. (6)

(1) The BAL recovery should be collected in containers that prevent cells from adhering to the vessel wall. Otherwise, cell loss could result (e.g. silicon coated glass containers or containers made of polypropylene or plastic containers especially developed for cell culture) (7).

(2) BAL samples may be transported at room temperature if the analyzing laboratory is in the same hospital and there is no transport delay.

(3) If the expected transport time is up to one hour, the material can be sent in its native form, but on ice (4° C). It is important to ensure that the transport fluid does not freeze.

(4) If the expected time of transport is more than one hour, the material should be transferred to a nutrient solution. Media for cell culture are suitable (i.e.: MEM+25 mM HEPES). In case the transport is at room temperature, the addition of a bacteriostatic agent to the culture medium can be considered (i.e. 0.1ml Pen/Strep). This, for example, makes postal shipping over 24 h possible without cooling [12].

(5) If the analyzing laboratory cannot work up the native sample immediately, it is recommended to transfer it to a culture medium. The sample should be cooled until it is worked up, which should not be more than 24 h.