[The specificity of so-called "smoker cells" in lung tissue].

Abstract

A simple test for demonstration of smoker cells was verified on bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) and cytological smears of lung tissue. Alveolar macrophages exhibit in 81% (BAL) respectively 86% (surgical material) of the smokers with Fettrot 7B a red colouring of the cytoplasm. Only few non-smokers show a positive reaction for smoker cells. In ex-smokers this positive reaction disappears after 7 month. We conclude, that this method is very sensitive but not absolutely specific for detecting smokers with a simple cytological test.