PCD Management
In this study, routine therapies used to treat PCD patients included
long-term AZM administration, airway clearance (daily chest
physiotherapy), inhaled hyperosmolar agents, and corticosteroids.
Treatment during acute infection included antibiotics, with AZM
administered most often, followed by ceftriaxone, ceftazidime,
cefoperazone sodium, sulbactam sodium, and meropenem. PCD patients
presenting with wheezing as the major symptom were also treated with
intravenous or oral corticosteroids.
Treatment management details of 63 patients are shown in Table 2.
Although long-term oral AZM was recommended for 90% of patients with
definite PCD diagnosis, only about 50% of patients were able to adhere
to long-term oral AZM administration, of which 46% complied with
recommended airway clearance physiotherapy.
Ultimately, the average duration of oral AZM treatment was 14 months
(range 0.5 to 29 months). Notably, in the total of follow-up patients,
30 (48%) of patients continually took AZM for longer than 3 months,
including 8 patients who took AZM for 3-6 months and 22 patients for
more than 6 months. The remaining 33 (52%) patients who either did not
regularly take AZM or took AZM for less than 3 months were assigned in
the AZM-untreated group included, including 22 patients who did not take
AZM, 4 patients who regularly took AZM for 2 weeks, 4 patients who took
AZM for 1 month, and 2 patients who took AZM for two months. Aside from
AZM treatment, there were no significant differences in other treatment
measures between the two groups (Table 2).
In the AZM-treated group, 3 patients experienced transient nausea and
abdominal pain that ceased after oral AZM administration timing was
changed. No other serious adverse reactions were observed. Moreover,
testing at intervals during follow-up revealed that no patients suffered
from leucopenia or neutropenia, and no patients had abnormal alanine
transaminase levels, or abnormal electrocardiogram findings.