[Primary ciliary dyskinesia: a retrospective review of clinical and paraclinical data]

Evaluation of age at diagnosis and clinical findings of children with primary ciliary dyskinesia

OBJECTIVE

Patients with primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD) may present with different clinical findings at different ages, and age at diagnosis may differ. We aimed to review clinical factors that affected age at diagnosis of patients with PCD.

STUDY DESIGN

All 70 patients with PCD who were followed in our pediatric pulmonology department were included. Demographic features, clinical findings, PrImary CiliAry DyskinesiA Rule (PICADAR) scores and pulmonary function tests of patients were recorded and clinical factors that affected age at diagnosis were evaluated.

RESULTS

The mean age at diagnosis was 8.3 ± 4.6 years. Most of patients (95.7%) had a persistent wet cough. The mean PICADAR score was 6.5 ± 3.2, and there was a negative correlation between PICADAR and age at diagnosis (r = -0.271, p = .023). The mean ages at diagnosis of patients with situs abnormality and recurrent wheezing were earlier than in patients without situs abnormality and recurrent wheezing (6.7 ± 4.3 and 6.8 ± 4.3, p = .002 vs. 9.8 ± 4.3 and 9.0 ± 4.6 years, p = .040, respectively). The mean age at diagnosis of patients with bronchiectasis was later than in patients without bronchiectasis (10.8 ± 3.9 and 6.9 ± 4.4 years, p = .001). Other clinical features were not statistically significant according to age at diagnosis (p > .05). There was no statistically significant relation between age at diagnosis and sex, sibling or relative with PCD and parental consanguinity (p > .05).

CONCLUSION

Although most patients diagnosed with PCD had symptoms, the diagnosis may be delayed. High PICADAR score is a useful guide to evaluate PCD. Situs abnormality and recurrent wheezing could be clues for early diagnosis of PCD. Early diagnosis of PCD may prevent bronchiectasis.

Follow-Up and Management of Chronic Rhinosinusitis in Adults with Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia: Review and Experience of Our Reference Centers

Chronic rhinosinusitis is the foremost manifestation in adult patients with primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD). We present a retrospective series of 41 adult patients with a confirmed diagnosis of PCD followed in our reference centers. As part of the diagnostic work up in our centers, sinus computed tomography scans (CTs) are systematically performed. All patients also undergo a sampling of purulent secretions sampled from the middle meatus under endoscopic view for bacteriological analysis. In our series, CT opacities were consistent in all the patients, as well as mainly partial and located in ethmoid cells (100% of patients) and in maxillary sinuses (85.4% of patients), and stayed stable over time. In the 31 patients who had purulent secretions, bacteriological culture showed at least one bacterium in 83.9% (n = 26). There was no significant difference in positive cultures for Pseudomonas aeruginosa in patients >40 years old versus those <40 (p = 0.17; Fisher). Surgical management was performed in only 19% of patients in order to improve sinonasal mechanical drainage. Our data support the hypothesis that the sinuses can be considered as a bacterial reservoir. From this retrospective study, we have introduced several changes into our routine clinical practice in our reference centers. Based on our analyses, medical and surgical treatments benefit from incorporating bacteriological information and sinonasal symptoms much more than CT scan evaluation alone. All patients now undergo systematically an annual simultaneous bacteriological sampling of the middle meatus and sputum to follow the relationship between ENT and lung disease and to help to antibiotic therapy strategy.

Normal values of offline exhaled and nasal nitric oxide in healthy children and teens using chemiluminescence

Nitric oxide (NO) can be used to detect respiratory or ciliary diseases. Fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) measurement can reflect ongoing eosinophilic airway inflammation and has a diagnostic utility as a test for asthma screening and follow-up while nasal nitric oxide (nNO) is a valuable screening tool for the diagnosis of primary ciliary dyskinesia. The possibility of collecting airway gas samples in an offline manner offers the advantage to extend these measures and improve the screening and management of these diseases, but normal values from healthy children and teens remain sparse.

METHODS

Samples were consecutively collected using the offline method for eNO and nNO chemiluminescence measurement in 88 and 31 healthy children and teens, respectively. Offline eNO measurement was also performed in 30 consecutive children with naïve asthma and/or respiratory allergy.

RESULTS

The normal offline eNO value was determined by the following regression equation -8.206 + 0.176 × height. The upper limit of the norm for the offline eNO value was 27.4 parts per billion (ppb). A separate analysis was performed in children, pre-teens and teens, for which offline eNO was 13.6 ± 4.7 ppb, 16.3 ± 13.7 ppb and 20.0 ± 7.2 ppb, respectively. The optimal cut-off value of the offline eNO to predict asthma or respiratory allergies was 23.3 ppb, with a sensitivity and specificity of 77% and 91%, respectively. Mean offline nNO was determined at 660 ppb with the lower limit of the norm at 197 ppb.

CONCLUSION

The use of offline eNO and nNO normal values should favour the widespread screening of respiratory diseases in children of school age in their usual environment.

European Respiratory Society guidelines for the diagnosis of primary ciliary dyskinesia

The diagnosis of primary ciliary dyskinesia is often confirmed with standard, albeit complex and expensive, tests. In many cases, however, the diagnosis remains difficult despite the array of sophisticated diagnostic tests. There is no "gold standard" reference test. Hence, a Task Force supported by the European Respiratory Society has developed this guideline to provide evidence-based recommendations on diagnostic testing, especially in light of new developments in such tests, and the need for robust diagnoses of patients who might enter randomised controlled trials of treatments. The guideline is based on pre-defined questions relevant for clinical care, a systematic review of the literature, and assessment of the evidence using the GRADE (Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation) approach. It focuses on clinical presentation, nasal nitric oxide, analysis of ciliary beat frequency and pattern by high-speed video-microscopy analysis, transmission electron microscopy, genotyping and immunofluorescence. It then used a modified Delphi survey to develop an algorithm for the use of diagnostic tests to definitively confirm and exclude the diagnosis of primary ciliary dyskinesia; and to provide advice when the diagnosis was not conclusive. Finally, this guideline proposes a set of quality criteria for future research on the validity of diagnostic methods for primary ciliary dyskinesia.

Long-term outcome of Tunisian children with primary ciliary dyskinesia confirmed by transmission electron microscopy

BACKGROUND

Primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD) is rare. Its diagnosis requires experienced specialists and expensive infrastructure. Its prognosis is variable.

OBJECTIVE

To study the long-term outcome of PCD in Tunisian children with ciliary ultra-structure defects detected by electron microscope.

METHODS

Covering a period of 20 years (1996-2015), this retrospective study included all patients with definite PCD (outer dynein arms (DA) defects and/or situs inversus) and presumed PCD (other ciliary ultra-structure defects). The clinical data and the investigations made were registered at diagnosis and during the follow-up.

RESULTS

Patients with a definite PCD (G1, n=7) were diagnosed earlier compared to those with a presumed PCD (G2, n=13) (2.5 vs. 9.3 years on average). At diagnosis, bronchiectasis was more frequent in G1 (3/7 vs. 4/13). The inner DA loss was constant in G1 and predominant in G2. The treatment adhesion was more often irregular in G2 (2/7 vs. 8/13). During a mean follow-up of 11 years, G1 showed less severe outcome (clubbing (0 vs. 3), bronchiectasis (3 vs. 11; more expanded in G2), proximal and distal airway obstruction (0/3 vs. 5/7), lobectomy (0 vs. 2), and death (0 vs. 2)).

CONCLUSION

Precocious diagnosis and regular treatment may enhance the PCD prognosis.

Clinical manifestations in primary ciliary dyskinesia: systematic review and meta-analysis

Few original studies have described the prevalence and severity of clinical symptoms of primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD). This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to identify all published studies on clinical manifestations of PCD patients, and to describe their prevalence and severity stratified by age and sex.We searched PubMed, Embase and Scopus for studies describing clinical symptoms of ≥10 patients with PCD. We performed meta-analyses and meta-regression to explain heterogeneity.We included 52 studies describing a total of 1970 patients (range 10-168 per study). We found a prevalence of 5% for congenital heart disease. For the rest of reported characteristics, we found considerable heterogeneity (I² range 68-93.8%) when calculating the weighted mean prevalence. Even after taking into account the explanatory factors, the largest part of the between-studies variance in symptom prevalence remained unexplained for all symptoms. Sensitivity analysis including only studies with test-proven diagnosis showed similar results in prevalence and heterogeneity.Large differences in study design, selection of study populations and definition of symptoms could explain the heterogeneity in symptom prevalence. To better characterise the disease, we need larger, multicentre, multidisciplinary, prospective studies that include all age groups, use uniform diagnostics and report on all symptoms.