Financial/nonfinancial disclosures: The authors have reported to CHEST the following conflicts of interest: Drs Hargreave and Nair have a patent on a filter device provided in a kit to process and examine sputum for quantitative inflammatory cell counts and fluid phase indices. This has not been marketed, and there is currently no profit from this. Drs Hargreave and Nair's university hospital l...

Not less than 200 cases have been diagnosed as pulmonary paragonimiasis since 1947 at the medical department of the National Taiwan University Hospital. Of those, definite diagnosis by positive ova from the sputum accompanied by fairly complete laboratory examinations by means of chest x-ray films, blood sedimentation rate, tuberculin test, sputum examination, white blood count with differentia...

A group of 34 mycobacteria, consisting of 25 Mycobacterium tuberculosis and nine strains of three other species, was isolated from 400 expectorated sputum specimens submitted on 148 patients from county-wide sources. Eight strains (24% of the total) were isolated from specimens evaluated by Gram stain to be oropharyngeal fluids. The remaining 26 strains were isolated from ungradable specimens a...

Over the past few years cellular and biochemical sputum examinations have become important instruments to assess airway inflammation. The aim of this review is to summarize new methodological developments and aspects, which are currently under investigation. The use of isotonic saline has increased safety of inductions in patients with severe asthma and in children. The origin of sputum is bett...

Airway inflammation is fundamental to the aetiology and persistence of asthma and other airway conditions. The presence and type of airway inflammation can be difficult to detect clinically, delaying the introduction of appropriate treatment. Induced sputum cell counts are a relatively noninvasive, safe and reliable method of identifying airway inflammation. They can accurately discriminate eos...

In a prospective study of 72 human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) positive patients presenting with fever and breathlessness, a non-invasive management protocol, incorporating a scanning technique using radioactively labelled diethylenetriamine penta acetate (DTPA) and sputum induction, was found to be highly sensitive and specific in the early detection of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP). A...

Bacteriological examination of the early morning sputum from 54 patients with chronic bronchitis, half of whom received chemoprophylaxis with oxytetracycline, was made regularly for periods up to four and a half years. Nasal and perineal swabs were taken for periods up to three and a half years. There was no evidence that frequent or dangerous proliferation of drug-resistant organisms occurred ...

BACKGROUND The Revised National Tuberculosis Control Program (RNTCP) of India recommends follow-up sputum smear examination at two months into the continuation phase of treatment. The main intent of this (mid-CP) follow-up is to detect patients not responding to treatment around two-three months earlier than at the end of the treatment. However, the utility of mid-CP follow-up under programmati...

BACKGROUND Pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) among asymptomatic Chinese patients with HIV infection has not been investigated despite high tuberculosis burden in China. This study was aimed to evaluate the prevalence, risk factors and clinical outcomes of PTB among asymptomatic patients with HIV/AIDS in Guangxi to facilitate the development of diagnostic and treatment strategies. METHODS All asymp...

BACKGROUND Mycobacterial identification in active pulmonary tuberculosis (APTB) is confirmative, even though successful rates using self-expectorated sputum are limited. Sputum specimens collected by hypertonic saline nebulization showed higher bacteriologic diagnostic sensitivities over those of self-expectoration, mostly studied in smear-negative or sputum-scarce patients. The efficacy of ind...