Studies on mucociliary transport in patients with pulmonary atypical mycobacteriosis. By aerosol inhalation cine-scintigraphy

Mucociliary transport (MCT) was studied in 22 patients with atypical mycobacteriosis (Group I: 16 with M. avium-intracellulare complex (MAC), Group II: 6 with M. kansasii) by aerosol inhalation cine-scintigraphy. In most of the patients, the MCT was abnormally slow both in the main bronchus and in the trachea, while in healthy controls the transport of the inhaled aerosol in the bronchus and the trachea were rapid and smooth. In both groups, the tracheal MCT was impaired in two-thirds of the patients, while the MCT in the main bronchus was impaired in all except one in Group I and in two-thirds in Group II. The results indicate that the grade of bronchial impairment was higher in MAC than in M. kansasii infections. In atypical mycobacteriosis, especially in MAC infections, such impairment of MCT could be closely related to the disruption of local defence mechanisms in the airways. (author)