Tracheobronchial clearance in patients with influenza.

Abstract

Tracheobronchial clearance was studied in 6 patients infected with influenza A and 9 healthy subjects. A test aerosol that consisted of 6 μm particles of teflon (density: 2 g per cm3) tagged with technetium-99m was used, and radioactivity in the lungs was measured externally for 2 hours. The patients with influenza were studied approximately 1 week, 1 month, and 3 months after the onset of symptoms. Clearance at the first examination was, on the average, significantly slower than on the second and third occasions. At the first study, clearance in the patients with influenza was significantly slower than that in the healthy subjects, whereas on the second and third examinations, it was similar in the two groups.