@article {Fuchs3221, author = {Susanne Fuchs and Helmut Ellemunter and Johannes Eder and Uwe Mellies and J{\"o}rg Grosse-Onnebrink and Burkhardt T{\"u}mmler and Doris Staab and Andrea Jobst and Matthias Griese and Jan Ripper and Ernst Rietschel and Susanne Zeidler and Frank Ahrens}, title = {Multicentre feasibility and variability of measuring the lung clearance index in healthy volunteers}, volume = {38}, number = {Suppl 55}, elocation-id = {3221}, year = {2011}, publisher = {European Respiratory Society}, abstract = {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}, issn = {0903-1936}, URL = {https://erj.ersjournals.com/content/38/Suppl_55/3221}, eprint = {https://erj.ersjournals.com/content}, journal = {European Respiratory Journal} }