Bronchoalveolar lavage

Bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) is a medical procedure in which a bronchoscope is passed through the mouth or nose into the lungs and fluid is squirted into a small part of the lung and then recollected for examination. BAL is typically performed to diagnose lung disease. In particular, BAL is commonly used to diagnose infections in people with immune system problems, pneumonia in people on ventilators, some types of lung cancer, and scarring of the lung (interstitial lung disease).
See more at Wikipedia.org...

Bronchoalveolar lavage A way of obtaining a sample of fluid from the airways by inserting a flexible tube through the windpipe. [more]Bronchoalveolar lavage - Community and Resources