Goracci Cecilia, Volpe Alessandra, Salerni Lorenzo, Paolini Elisabetta, Vichi Alessandro, Franchi Lorenzo
Department of Medical Biotechnologies, University of Siena, 53100 Siena, Italy.
Department of Medical, Surgical, and Neurological Sciences, University of Siena, 53100 Siena, Italy.
J Clin Med. 2022 Dec 27;12(1):213. doi: 10.3390/jcm12010213.
Nasopharyngeal swab sample collection is the first-line testing method for diagnosing COVID-19 infection and other respiratory infections. Current information on how to properly perform nasopharyngeal swabbing in children is largely defective. This study aimed at collecting nostril to nasopharynx distance measurements on lateral skull radiographs of children and adolescents to design a nasopharyngeal swab meant to standardize and facilitate the sample collection procedure. A total of 323 cephalograms of 152 male and 171 female children aged 4-14 years taken for orthodontic reasons were selected. On each cephalogram, the shortest distance between the most anterosuperior point of the nostril contour and the nasopharynx outline was measured in mm parallel to the palatal plane. Descriptive statistics of the measurements were calculated for each age group. The lower limit of the 95% confidence intervals of the measurements was taken as a reference to design a swab shaft with marks that, at each age, delimitate a safety boundary for swab progression up to the posterior nasopharyngeal wall. The simplification of the procedure enabled by the newly designed nasopharyngeal swab is valuable to help healthcare providers perform specimen collection on children in a safe and effective way, perhaps under the less-than-ideal conditions possibly occurring in 'point-of-need' contexts.
鼻咽拭子样本采集是诊断新冠病毒感染及其他呼吸道感染的一线检测方法。目前关于如何在儿童中正确进行鼻咽拭子采样的信息存在很大缺陷。本研究旨在收集儿童和青少年头颅侧位X线片上鼻孔至鼻咽的距离测量数据，以设计一种鼻咽拭子，使样本采集程序标准化并更简便。选取了因正畸原因拍摄的152名男性和171名女性4至14岁儿童的323张头颅侧位片。在每张头颅侧位片上，平行于腭平面，以毫米为单位测量鼻孔轮廓最前上方点与鼻咽轮廓之间的最短距离。计算每个年龄组测量值的描述性统计量。测量值95%置信区间的下限作为参考，设计带有标记的拭子杆，在每个年龄段划定拭子深入至鼻咽后壁的安全边界。新设计的鼻咽拭子使采样程序简化，有助于医护人员在“即时需求”情况下可能出现的不太理想条件下，以安全有效的方式为儿童采集标本。
