Abstract
Mucociliary clearance serves to remove inhaled participate matters from the upper and lower respiratory tracts. Since mucociliary clearance is composed of ciliary activity and mucus and their interactions, any abnormal function of these components could contribute to mucociliary dysfunction. Primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD) is a congenital anomaly in ciliary structure, and mucociliary clearance is totally absent in such patients. Patients with PCD suffer from chronic upper and lower respiratory diseases, such as bronchiectasis, chronic sinusitis and otitis media with effusion. Thus, mucociliary clearance is essential to host defense mechanisms. Mucociliary dysfunction in PCD can not be treated properly, because ciliary activity is impaired due to the abnormal structure of the cilia.
Mucociliary dysfunction is also observed in upper and/or lower respiratory diseases even in patients without PCD. In these patients, mucociliary clearance is recoverable by treatment of the disease. The treatment of nasal mucociliary dysfunction in chronic sinusitis is discussed in relation to the mechanisms of nasal mucociliary dysfunction.
