Diagnostic yield of the different sampling techniques in macrophage-rich pulmonary diseases
| Bronchoalveolar lavage | Transbronchial biopsy | Transbronchial cryobiopsy | Surgical lung biopsy | |
| Respiratory bronchiolitis interstitial lung disease | + | ++ | +++ | +++ |
| Desquamative interstitial pneumonia | + | ++ | +++ | +++ |
| Langerhans cell histiocytosis | + | ++ | +++ | +++ |
| Extrinsic allergic alveolitis/hypersensitivity pneumonitis | + | ++ | +++ | +++ |
| Diffuse pan-bronchiolitis | + | ++ | +++ | +++ |
| Exogenous lipoid pneumonitis | ++ | ++ | +++ | +++ |
| Pneumoconiosis | + | ++ | +++ | +++ |
| Pulmonary alveolar proteinosis | +++ | ++ | +++ | +++ |
| Erdheim–Chester disease | − | + | ++ | +++ |
| Rosai–Dorfman disease | − | + | ++ | +++ |
| Gaucher disease | +# | + | ++ | +++ |
| Niemann–Pick disease | +# | + | ++ | +++ |
–: almost never diagnostic; +: weakly diagnostic; ++: moderately diagnostic; +++: almost always diagnostic. #: bronchoalveolar lavage is helpful in supporting the diagnosis once clinically suspected, but rarely diagnostic per se.