[Aspects of mucociliary clearance in mucoviscidosis]

Very often the respiratory tract of patients suffering from mucoviscidosis is infested with Pseudomonas aeruginosa which is accused of forming substances that inhibit ciliary motility. It is the aim of the present study to examine the influence of an acute and clinically relevant pseudomonas infestation on the ciliary beat frequency. The ciliary beat rate was determined in 25 mucoviscidosis patients, 13 of them were hospitalised because of acute bronchopulmonary infections. 12 of the patients did not show any clinical signs of an acute respiratory tract infection. In the group of the 13 hospitalised patients, 10 patients (77%) showed infestation of the respiratory tract with Pseudomonas aeruginosa, the mean ciliary beat frequency being markedly reduced at 8.2 +/- 1.7 Hz compared to that of a healthy group with 9.9 +/- 1.0 Hz. The 12 outpatients without clinical signs of acute respiratory tract infections did not show any reduction of the ciliary beat frequency (9.9 +/- 1.4 Hz). Basing on these results, determination of the ciliary beat frequency may possibly develop into an auxiliary criterion to decide on starting a Pseudomonas-active antibiotic therapy.