A DEVICE FOR MEASURING MUCOCILIARY ACTIVITY IN THE HUMAN BRONCHI DURING FIBEROPTIC BRONCHOSCOPY

An in vivo method for the study of mucociliary activity in the human t rachea and bronchi is presented. The method is based on a two-way fibr e-optic system whereby reflections of light emitted by one glass-fibre and reflected by the cilia are picked up by a second glass fibre and transmitted to a recording unit. The glass fibre system is designed to be used in conjunction with a regular fibre bronchoscope, and is conv enient for routine use in daily clinical work. As reference material, 15 subjects aged 23-73 years without evidence of disease were examined in their right upper bronchus. The average cilial beat frequency was found to be 12.0 +/- 1.0 (SD) waves per second.