What Is Bronchitis?
7. Laboratory Tests
Since there are many different diseases that can cause cough, bronchitis is only considered when other diagnoses have been ruled out. To start, a complete blood count (CBC) with differential will be useful. To distinguish bacterial and nonbacterial infections, procalcitonin levels can also be useful as they help to reduce the use of antibiotics in the event of nonbacterial causes.
Other potentially beneficial tests include sputum cytology in persistent cough; bronchoscopy to exclude tumors, foreign body aspiration, tuberculosis, other chronic diseases of the lungs or tracheobronchial tree; spirometry to determine forced expiratory volume in 1 second; laryngoscopy to exclude epiglottitis; influenza tests; culture and staining; and blood culture (if suspected bacterial superinfection).
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