Arunabha D C, Sumit R T, Sourin B, Sabyasachi C, Subhasis M
Department of Pulmonary Medicine, R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata.
Department of Pulmonary Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bhubaneswar.
Ethiop J Health Sci. 2014 Oct;24(4):363-8. doi: 10.4314/ejhs.v24i4.13.
Recurrent lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI) is a very common problem we encounter in our clinical practice. Failure to recognize the specific cause of this condition may subject the patients to unnecessary and inappropriate treatment.
among the various causes of recurrent LRTI, the most frequent causes are abnormalities of general or local impairment of immune mechanism and abnormalities of cilia or mucus of respiratory tract. We report an adult case of recurrent upper and lower respiratory tract infections since childhood along with situs inversus totalis which was diagnosed as Kartagener's syndrome. He had all the classical clinical and radiological features of Kartagener's syndrome which is a rare inherited disorder which is seen in nearly half of the cases of primary cilliary dyskinesia (PCD).
One should always keep in mind the possibilities of Kartagener's syndrome in patients presenting with recurrent upper and lower respiratory tract infections, sinusitis or bronchiectasis. Inability to diagnose this condition may subject the patient to unnecessary and repeated hospital admissions, investigations and treatment failure.
复发性下呼吸道感染（LRTI）是我们在临床实践中经常遇到的一个非常常见的问题。未能识别这种情况的具体原因可能会使患者接受不必要和不适当的治疗。
在复发性LRTI的各种原因中，最常见的原因是免疫机制的全身或局部损害异常以及呼吸道纤毛或黏液异常。我们报告一例自童年起就患有复发性上、下呼吸道感染并伴有全内脏转位的成年病例，该病例被诊断为卡塔格内综合征。他具有卡塔格内综合征所有典型的临床和放射学特征，卡塔格内综合征是一种罕见的遗传性疾病，在原发性纤毛运动障碍（PCD）病例中近半数可见。
对于出现复发性上、下呼吸道感染、鼻窦炎或支气管扩张的患者，应始终牢记卡塔格内综合征的可能性。无法诊断这种疾病可能会使患者接受不必要的反复住院、检查和治疗失败。
