%0 Journal Article %A Susanne Fuchs %A Helmut Ellemunter %A Johannes Eder %A Uwe Mellies %A Jörg Grosse-Onnebrink %A Burkhardt Tümmler %A Doris Staab %A Andrea Jobst %A Matthias Griese %A Jan Ripper %A Ernst Rietschel %A Susanne Zeidler %A Frank Ahrens %T Multicentre feasibility and variability of measuring the lung clearance index in healthy volunteers %D 2011 %J European Respiratory Journal %P 3221 %V 38 %N Suppl 55 %X The Lung Clearance Index (LCI) is superior to spirometry in detecting early lung disease in Cystic Fibrosis and correlates with structural changes seen on CT-scans. The LCI has the potential to become a novel outcome parameter for clinical and research purposes. Longitudinal studies are required to further prove its prognostic value. Multi-centre design is likely to facilitate realisation of such studies.Therefore the aim of the present study was to assess multi-centre feasibility and inter-centre variability of LCI measurements in healthy children and adolescents.Measurements were performed using the EasyOne Pro, MBW module (ndd, Switzerland) by 8 participating CF centres. Marien Hospital Wesel, 7 is the upper limit of normal for the LCI.The success rate of LCI measurements was 75.5%, leaving n=102 measurements for final analysis. Mean age (range) was 12.5 (5-20) years. Mean LCI (range) was 6.3 (6.0-6.5) and thus normal. Inter-centre variability was 2.9% (p=<0.05).Our study demonstrates good multi-centre feasibility and low inter-centre variability of the LCI in healthy volunteers when measured with the EasyOne Pro MBW module. Our data are comparable to published single-centre data. However, central coordination, quality control, regular training and supervision during the entire study appear essential for successfully performing multi-centre trials.This project was supported by Mukoviszidose eV Germany %U