Bronchoalveolar lavage and lung clearance index detect CF

The lung clearance index (LCI) has been found to be a sensitive and non-invasive marker of early lung disease by researchers studying early cystic fibrosis (CF) in Australia.

The findings, published ahead of the American Thoracic Society's American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, show that LCI could also be useful as an objective outcome measure in future studies of young children with CF.

Some 47 pre-symptomatic or minimally symptomatic infants and young children with CF and 25 health control children were used in the study, where LCI was determined after multiple breath washout (MBW) and Bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) was performed.

Yvonne Belessis, MBBS, MPH, PhD, respiratory staff specialist at the Sydney Children's Hospital, said: "We found that LCI is elevated early in children with CF, especially in the presence of airway inflammation and Pseudomonas aeruginosa,"

"LCI may not only be a marker of early CF lung disease, but may be useful as an objective outcome measure in future studies of young children with CF."

According to Patient.co.uk around one in 2,500 babies in the UK are born with cystic fibrosis, which is an autosomal recessive disorder.

Posted by Ben Evans