In this study, we divided patients who were admitted to the Life Saving Center of our hospital with traumatic fractures into 3 groups: group F, including patients who were given diagnoses of FES according to Tsuruta's criteria; group K, including patients whose fractures resolved without any complications; and group KH, consisting of patients with fractures and pulmonary contusions. Broncho-alveolar lavage (BAL) was found to be useful for detecting FES in these groups. The subjects studied were 45 patients with traumatic fractures who were admitted to the Life Saving Center of our hospital and who underwent BAL procedures between April 1989 and March 1997 (group F : 14, group K : 17, group KH : 14) After noninvasive treatment, all patients received their first BAL by bronchoscopy within 48 hours of admission. Significant differences distinguished group F from groups K and KH in terms of features of BAL washout solution, total cell count, and values for lymphatic subsets, P-III-P, LTB 4, and granulocyte elastase. Based on these results, it was concluded that BAL is useful for detecting FES and differentiating patients in group S from those in groups K and KH.