value of sweat chloride test in the diagnosis of cystic fibrosis among Jordanian children

To determine the frequency of cystic fibrosis by measurement of sweat chloride concentration among Jordanian children referred to Princess Iman Research and Laboratory Sciences Center, King Hussein Medical Center with a high index of suspicion of cystic fibrosis on clinical ground. About 1565 patients highly suspected of having cystic fibrosis were tested for sweat chloride using the Wescor Macroduct collecting system and Sweat Chick 3100. One hundred fifty-three out of 1565 patients [9.8 percent] were found to have sweat chloride >/= 60 mmo1/1, 132 [8.4 percent] had sweat chloride 45-59 mmo1/1. The false positive rate was 3 percent on test repetition and the false negative rate was 3.4 percent. Thirty seven percent of our patients presented with failure to thrive, diarrhea and chronic chest infection, 26 percent presented with either failure to thrive or short stature and the rest of patients had a wide spectrum of clinical presentation. Sweat chloride test is a very good screening and diagnostic tool. There is a high percentage of patients with intermediate sweat chloride concentration where the diagnosis is equivocal and thus a genetic study to establish the diagnosis should be carried out

CFTR, a rectifying, non-rectifying anion channel?

No abstract available.