Chest
Clinical InvestigationsCOPDComparison of Sputum Induction Using High-Output and Low-Output Ultrasonic Nebulizers in Normal Subjects and Patients With COPD
Section snippets
Normal Subjects
Ten normal nonsmoking subjects (5 men) with no recent serious concomitant illnesses, history of atopy or asthma, or history of childhood chest disease were recruited: mean ± SEM age, 28 ± 1 years; FEV1, 3.65 ± 0.29 L; and FEV1 percent of predicted, 98.1 ± 3.2%.
Patients With COPD
Ten patients (7 men) with stable COPD attending the Belfast City Hospital Respiratory Medicine clinics were also recruited: mean age, 63 ± 3 years; FEV1, 1.08 ± 0.14 L; FEV1 percent predicted, 40.7 ± 4.2%; pulse oximetric saturation, 91.4
Results
Ten normal subjects and 10 patients with COPD were studied, and all successfully produced sputum. Nebulization was stopped due to a > 20% drop in FEV1 in three patients with COPD using the low-output nebulizer and seven patients with COPD using the high-output nebulizer. The high-output nebulizer produced a significantly larger drop in FEV1 (mean, 0.29 ± 0.04 L vs 0.21 ± 0.04 L, p = 0.04) and percentage drop in FEV1 (mean, 25.8 ± 2.6% vs 19.5 ± 2.9%, p = 0.02) compared with the low-output
Discussion
This study demonstrates that a low-output ultrasonic nebulizer can produce adequate and comparable samples to conventional, high-output ultrasonic nebulizers. It has a superior safety profile and better patient tolerance when compared to the high-output nebulizer.
The smaller fall in FEV1 and longer nebulization time suggests that the low-output nebulizer is more acceptable for use in patients with COPD. However, even with the low-output nebulizer, a > 20% fall in FEV1 occurred in three
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Work performed at Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Queen's University of Belfast and Department of Respiratory Medicine, Belfast City Hospital.
Research supported by a grant from the Northern Ireland Chest, Heart, and Stroke Association.