A. Escribano et al., AN ISOTOPIC STUDY OF NASAL MUCOCILIARY TRANSPORT IN NEWBORNS - PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATION, Pediatric pulmonology, 16(3), 1993, pp. 167-169
The diagnosis of primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD) depends on electron
microscopic examination of cilia obtained from mucosal biopsies of the
nasal turbinates or the trachea. This is an invasive, time-consuming,
and expensive technique. The low incidence of this abnormality, the l
arge number of infants and children with suggestive symptoms, and the
lack of a reliable screening test make the decision to proceed with di
agnostic biopsy a common problem in recurrent or chronic respiratory p
ediatric conditions. To improve this situation early in infancy, nasal
mucociliary transport was evaluated in 10 normal newborns using the T
c-99m-labeled seroalbumin technique, and the results obtained were com
pared with those corresponding to a newborn with Kartagener's syndrome
. Transport velocity in normal newborns was similar to that observed i
n older children and in adults, in contrast to the tracer immobility s
een in the affected newborn. This technique is simple, safe, objective
, and well tolerated in this age group and might be used as an early s
creening test to ruling out PCD. (C) 1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc.