The importance of presenting absolute cell numbers when counting cells in biological samples is illustrated by the potentially misleading interpretation of data in the paper by Marco Confalonieri and colleagues. The authors concluded that, in addition to reduced sputum neutrophilia, the number of sputum macrophages increased significantly following treatment with inhaled beclomethasone dipropio...

In difficult-to-treat asthmatics, uncontrolled despite a high level of therapy and followed for 3 years with a mean number of sputum samples/patient = 10, sputum eosinophilia (≥3%) was observed in 87% of all sputum samples. Persistent sputum eosinophilia is a characteristic of severe uncontrolled asthma.

Clinicians have been interested in the macroscopic and protocol (fig 1), based on that described by Pin et al using a relatively low output ultrasonic nebuliser (output 0.9 ml/ microscopic appearance of sputum in asthma since the last half of the 19th century when Charcot-Leyden crystals, min, particle size 5.6 lm), results in successful sputum induction in 76% of normal and asthmatic subjects ...

The importance of presenting absolute cell numbers when counting cells in biological samples is illustrated by the potentially misleading interpretation of data in the paper by Marco Confalonieri and colleagues. The authors concluded that, in addition to reduced sputum neutrophilia, the number of sputum macrophages increased significantly following treatment with inhaled beclomethasone dipropio...

Cystic fibrosis patients suffer from chronic lung infection and inflammation due to the secretion of viscous sputum. Sputum viscosity is caused by extracellular DNA, some of which originates from the release of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs). During NET formation neutrophil elastase (NE) partially processes histones to decondense chromatin. NE is abundant in CF sputum and is thought to c...

Results H2S levels in induced sputum from severe and nonsevere asthmatic patients were significantly higher than those from healthy subjects but there was no difference between the severe and non-severe group. Serum H2S levels were 10 times higher than in sputum and these were also higher in severe and non-severe asthmatic subjects compared to healthy subjects. There was a positive correlation ...

Exhaled nitric oxide and eosinophil sputum markers are considered noninvasive ways in which to evaluate airway inflammation in asthma. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationships between these methods of evaluation in asthmatic children. In a cross-sectional study of 25 mild-moderate asthmatic children (aged 6-13 yrs, 10 patients on inhaled steroids) exhaled NO was measured along wi...

Acute exacerbations of asthma are frequently caused by viral infections, but the inflammatory mechanisms in virus-induced asthma are poorly understood. The aim of the present study was to determine whether viral infection in acute asthma was associated with increased sputum neutrophil degranulation and increased cellular lysis and whether these changes are related to clinical severity. Adults (...

BACKGROUND Induced sputum potentially allows monitoring of airway inflammation in patients with asthma in a non-invasive way. However, the relationship between the cellular content in sputum and airway tissue has not been fully clarified. OBJECTIVE We compared the cellular compositions of hypertonic saline-induced sputum, bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BAL) and bronchial biopsies in 18 clinica...

Background: In the management of cystic fibrosis (CF), rhDNase-I inhalation is widely used to facilitate the removal of the highly viscous and elastic mucus (often called sputum) from the lungs. However, an important group of CF patients does not benefit from rhDNase-I treatment. A study was undertaken to elucidate the reason for the failure of rhDNase-I in these patients and to evaluate strate...