A radiometric whole blood test for chronic granulomatous disease

Chronic granulomatous disease (CGD), caused by an inherited deficiency in the oxygen metabolism of granulocytes and monocytes, is often a diagnostic problem in patients with severe infections. CGD can be diagnosed by several methods, all requiring some knowledge of cell handling and specialized equipment. We describe a simple screening test for CGD, based on the production of 14CO2 from glucose-1-14C following stimulation of the granulocytes in whole blood with zymosan, CV: 14.8%, intraassay. The test can be carried out with equipment available in most routine laboratories and without expertise in granulocyte function tests.