CHARACTERIZING MUCOCILIARY CLEARANCE IN VERY YOUNG CHILDREN WITH CYSTIC FIBROSIS

This is the first study to characterize mucociliary clearance (MCC) in children with cystic fibrosis (CF) who were 5-7 years old. Measurements of mucociliary clearance were reproducible and reliable over a 2-week period and stable over a 1-year period. Variability in MCC between children was associated with differences in ventilation homogeneity, such that children with lower MCC values had increased ventilation inhomogeneity. These results suggest that measurements of MCC could be used in short-term clinical trials of interventions designed to modulate MCC and as a new, non-invasive test to evaluate early lung pathology in children with CF.