A 38-year-old male with
Kartagener's syndrome (KS) was admitted to our department for evaluation of recurrent
pneumonia. Before admission the patient was diagnosed as having
pneumonia in another hospital and received
ofloxacin (300 mg/day).
Fever and production of purulent sputum decreased initially but again increased in the middle of April. On admission the films of both X-ray and CT scan of the chest revealed several air-fluid levels and infiltrative shadows on the left lower lung field. The patient was diagnosed as
lung abscess using bronchofiberscopy. Gram staining of the intrabronchial specimens revealed many Gram-positive cocci and neutrophils including phagocytosed bacteria. A new
carbapenem (
L-627, 600 mg/day), was started intravenously. After the
therapy Streptococcus pneumoniae were eradicated soon from the sputum. At the same time the above symptoms including
dyspnea on exertion subsided, and the findings of the chest X-ray and CT scan were also improved. Regarding KS the electron micrograph of the cilia showed the absence of the outer-
dynein arms. While by both the
saccharin test and the sputum cytology impaired mucociliary clearance was found.
Lung abscess infrequently accompany KS. There are reports of
respiratory infections in KS, but to our knowledge no report of
lung abscess was found in KS. We present this case report describing
lung abscess in KS.