정상 성인에서 방사성동위원소 추적자를 이용한 비강점액청소능에 관한연구

Background: The mucociliary transport activity in the nasal cavity contributes to the defence mechanism of the respiratory tract, supporting protection against external stimuli. If the function of mucociliary transport activity is abnormal, nasal mucosa become pathologic state due to inflammation of nasal mucosa. So it is very important to measure the objective mucociliary transport activity.

For the evaluation of mucociliary clearance transport activity, mucociliary clearance test is used with two types of tracers which are solulble and insoluble character. The former contains saccharin, dye etc and the later includes resin, colloidal sulfur etc.

Objective: There have been some reports about measurement of mucociliary clearance with soluble saccharin. However, the test with insoluble tracer which reflect transport ability of mucosal layer about uptaking and processing inhalated foreign body has not been reported in Korea.

We performed this test with albumin tagged radioisotope in order to evaluate the clearance of mucosal layer in normal adults.

Materials and Method: We studied 27 normal adult, aged from 17 to 34 year old, using human albumin tagged with radioisotope(Tc^99m). Nasal flow test was done with Glatzel mirror and open side was chosen.

Results: Mean range of clearance were 5.8±2.2 mm/min(0.8 to 9.1mm/min) in all tested adults, 5.2± 2.2mm/min(0.8 to 8.8mm/min) in men and 6.9±1.85mm/mm(3.2 to 9.1mm/min) in women.

Conclusion: We suggest that radioisotope tracer is a useful material for mucociliary clearance test in nasal cavity.