ORIGINAL ARTICLES   

Otorinolaringologia 2014 December;64(4):157-61

Copyright © 2014 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Senescence and its effect on respiratory cilia

Vamanshankar H., Satish Kumar C., Manikandan D., Preetham A. P., Feshan M.

Department of Otolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery, Southern Railway Headquarters Hospital, Chennai, India

AIM: This study compares the nasal mucociliary clearance time in normal individuals of various age groups attending ENT OPD at Southern Railway Headquarters Hospital, Perambur, Chennai, India.
METHODS: Saccharin granule was used in the study for estimation of mucociliary clearance. The time taken by the subject to perceive sweet taste in the throat, from the time the saccharin is placed in the nostril, is taken as the mucociliary clearance time; 150 subjects were studied.
RESULTS: The minimum and maximum saccharin time noted in our study was 3.15 minutes and 36.10 minutes respectively. Majority of the subjects had a saccharin time ranging from 5 to 10 minutes (35.3%). We found that the mucociliary clearance was more prolonged as the age advances.
CONCLUSION: Elderly individuals are more susceptible to infections of the respiratory tract than their younger counterparts. Saccharin test is a safe, easy, fast and reliable method of mucociliary clearance estimation; it can be effectively used to screen and detect the progression of respiratory diseases in the elderly.