Recurrent respiratory infections with severely damaged lung functions: Kartagener's syndrome: Case report

Kartagener's (or Siewert) syndrome represents a clinical presentation of primary ciliary diskinesia (PCD) with 3 dominant symptoms: bronchiectasiae, chronic sinusitis and situs viscerum inversus totalis or dextrocardia, only. Siewet demonstrated the first case of this clinical phenomenon in 1904, which was recognized by Kartagener in 1933, as a congenital disorder. PCD is an autosomal recessive disease with extensive genetic heterogenity. Dyskinetic or completely absent motiliy of cilia predisposes to recurrent pulmonary and upper respiratory tract infections resulting in bronchiestasis. Also, infections of the middle ear are common due to lack of ciliary movement in the Eustachian tube. Men have reduced fertility due to spermatozoa with absent motility or abnormalities in the ductuli efferentes.