Neves CP, Costa AG, Safe IP, et al. - Two methods for sample collection, mini bronchoalveolar lavage (Mini-BAL) and endotracheal aspirate (ETA), for diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) in critically ill patients are compared. In this prospective study, researchers obtained two samples prospectively from 26 HIV positive ICU internalized patients, with presumptive PTB who required mechanical ventilation by Mini-BAL and ETA. Processing of samples was done for smear microscopy, Löwenstein-Jensen medium and the BACTEC Mycobacteria Growth Indicator Tube 960 system. The results demonstrate the ability of the respiratory samples obtained by Mini-BAL to raise MTB detection in these patients suggesting the Mini-BAL as an acceptable alternative to ETA in this population. The Mini-BAL allowed an increase in recovery by 30% and led to attaining of enough sample volume for processing in all methods. In addition, they obtained larger volume of the samples with this technique that enabled the Xpert MTB/RIF molecular test for diagnosis of TB.