Bronchoalveolar lavage during third-trimester pregnancy in patients with status asthmaticus: a case report.

Bronchial asthma is not uncommon among pregnant women. Especially, uncontrollable status asthmaticus may endanger both the lives of mother and fetus. We present a case of a late-phase pregnant woman in whom life-threatening status asthmaticus was relieved by repeated bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) under controlled ventilation, followed by successful spontaneous vaginal delivery. This case may indicate that BAL should be considered as an option in status asthmaticus complicating pregnancy before terminating the pregnancy to save the lives of mother and fetus.