Newborn screening for cystic fibrosis with the chloride electrode and neutron activation analysis.

Abstract

From third annual meeting of the European Working Group of Cystic Fibrosis; Erbach, Germany (6 Sep 1972). In 6,061 newborns, the chloride electrode technique was used for the detection of cystic fibrosis. The electrolyte values obtained were found to vary with the type of electrode used (45.9 plus or minus 9.9 mEq/l Beckman and 22.3 plus or minus 12 mEq/l Orion), and in both cases a value greater than the mean + 2 standard deviation was held as suspect and retested. In the group studied, the incidence of cystic fibrosis was calculated to be 1 in 3,000. In 590 of these cases the sodium values of nail clippings were measured by neutron activation analysis and were found to differ according to the washing method used; wash in vivo with ethanol 211.26 plus or minus 85.9 mEq/ kg water wash and acetone rinse 93.00 plus or minus 47.24 mEq/ kg; washing with H/sub 2/O/sub 2/ + absolute ethanol + diethyl ether, 183.42 plus or minus 61.26 mEq/k g. In addition, no correlation was found between chloride in sweat and the sodium content of nails. (auth)