HOPE-BAL: A novel promising tool for pulmonary research and diagnostics

The bronchoalveolar lavage has been a traditional source of fluids and cells for both, basic research and diagnostics. The cells are comparably easy acquired with only little risks for the patients. Therefore, these biomaterials are a precious source for research especially in terms of non-malignant diseases like asthma or COPD from which hardly tissue samples can be removed. Due to their perishable nature they have to be analysed timely or fixed in an adequate manner. Most popular used, formalin fixation and subsequent embedding in paraffin-blocks or cryo-fixation both have their unique advantages but also majo…