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March 21, 2026Thorax1 citationsOpen Access

Comparison of Lower Airway Sampling Strategies in Children with Protracted Bacterial Bronchitis (CLASSIC-PBB): a non-randomised, internally controlled, multicentre trial

FGFrancis GilchristISIvonne Solis-TrapalaMAMathew Aspey

Key Points

  • To compare the efficacy of cough swab and induced sputum against bronchial lavage in children with protracted bacterial bronchitis.
  • Conducted an internally controlled trial across multiple centers.
  • Assessed pathogen yield from cough swabs, induced sputum, and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL).
  • Evaluated tolerability and false negative rates of the sampling strategies.
  • Cough swab and induced sputum showed high discordance with BAL.
  • Induced sputum demonstrated a relatively low false negative rate.
  • Induced sputum can serve as an early assessment tool for PBB in children.

Abstract

The pathogen yield of both cough swab and induced sputum had high discordance with BAL6, meaning neither is a viable alternative to FB-BAL. However, the tolerability and relatively low false negative rate of induced sputum mean it can be part of early PBB assessment in children who do not warrant FB-BAL.

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Cite This Study

Gilchrist et al. (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/69be35836e48c4981c673d99https://doi.org/10.1136/thorax-2025-224292
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