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Recurrent aspiration in children: Lipid‐laden alveolar macrophage quantitation
Author(s) -
Colombo John L.,
Hallberg Timothy K.
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
pediatric pulmonology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.866
H-Index - 106
eISSN - 1099-0496
pISSN - 8755-6863
DOI - 10.1002/ppul.1950030209
Subject(s) - medicine , alveolar macrophage , pulmonary alveolus , macrophage , pathology , intensive care medicine , respiratory disease , lung , biochemistry , chemistry , in vitro
We prospectively evaluated bronchial washings from 45 patients aged 1 month to 25 years (mean 3.3 years) for the presence of lipid‐laden macrophages. By grading the amount of intracellular oil‐red‐O‐positive material, we determined a semiquantitative lipid‐laden macrophage index for each patient. All patients observed to be definite aspirators (n = 22) had indexes ≥86 (mean ± SD, 139 ± 46). All patients with no clinical suspicion of aspiration (n = 23) had indexes ⩽72 (mean ± SD, 21 ± 20). Our results suggest that simply sighting lipid‐laden macrophages is a nonspecific finding, but quantitation of these cells may be a very good test for recurrent aspiration of food substances in children. This test appears to be more sensitive than radiographic studies. Pediatr Pulmonol 1987; 3:89–89 .