[Ultrastructure of cilia in Kartagener syndrome]

The lack of mucociliary transport causes chronic inflammations in the upper and lower respiratory tract and in the middle ear mucosa. The mucosa of 4 female patients with Kartagener's syndrome was studied by means of TEM (transmission electron microscopy) and SEM (scanning electron microscopy) and compared with the fine structure of normal cilia which were also found in these areas. All specimens studied showed, to a different extent, alterations in the fine structure of the axonemata, especially the absence or malformed ATP-ase dynein arms, the lack of spokes and/or the misarrangement of microtubuli within the cilia. The importance of this congenital anomaly - "immotile cilia" - is discussed with the trias of Kartagener's syndrome.