title: Lung clearance index during hospital admission in school-age children with cystic fibrosis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  There is currently limited information regarding lung clearance index (LCI) and its response to treatment of pulmonary exacerbations in CF. We aimed to examine the utility of LCI for assessing short term clinical response to IV antibiotic therapy in school-age children with CF.
  
  
  METHODS
  Subjects experiencing exacerbations and hospitalised for IV antibiotics performed both multiple breath nitrogen washout (MBNW) and spirometry on admission to hospital and prior to discharge.
  
  
  RESULTS
  27 patients (aged 6-20 years) had paired data for MBNW and spirometry. Mean LCI reduced from 12.18 to 11.65 (4.4%) by time of discharge and FEV1z-score improved from -3.05 to -2.86 (6.2%). Overall, LCI improved in n=15 (55%) patients compared with n=18 (67%) where FEV1 improved.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In summary, these findings do not support the use of LCI (or indeed, FEV1) to gauge the short term clinical response to IV antibiotic therapy in school-age children with cystic fibrosis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory Medicine, Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, Australia; Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Melbourne, Australia. Electronic address: Liam.welsh@rch.org.au.
authors.forename: Liam
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Welsh
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory Medicine, Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Nesci
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory Medicine, Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: Haily
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tran
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory Medicine, Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: Marisol
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tomai
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory Medicine, Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, Australia; Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Melbourne, Australia; Department of Paediatrics, University of Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: Sarath
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ranganathan
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001944:Breath Tests; D002648:Child; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003550:Cystic Fibrosis / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D005541:Forced Expiratory Volume / Q000502:physiology; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D066232:Pulmonary Elimination / Q000502:physiology*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013147:Spirometry; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents
keywords: Cystic fibrosis; Lung function; Multiple breath washout; Pulmonary exacerbation