Infección crónica por Pseudomonas aeruginosa en pacientes con bronquiectasias no fibrosis quística

Abstract

Introduction: Chronic airways infection with Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA) is a common situation in patients with Bronchiectasis (BQ) and constitutes a breakdown in the natural history of the latter. Moreover, BQ is also associated with a poor prognosis and an increased severity of the disease. Objective: To describe the characteristics of the population diagnosed with non-Cystic Fibrosis Bronchiectasis (non-CFB) who are chronically infected with PA, and to perform a comparison with patients with negative sputum cultures. Methodology: We performed a retrospective analysis of the clinical files of patients diagnosed with non-CFB who were attended at the ‘Instituto Nacional del Tórax’ (Chile) between July 2007 and April 2017. The characteristics of the population were described and the FACED scores and other severity indexes were compared. Results: The average age of patients was 55 ± 17.3 years-old, and 81% of them were female. According to PA isolation in sputum culture, they were classified as “chronically infected” (non-CFB with PA, n = 61) and “not infected with PA” (non-CFB without PA, n = 59). There were no differences in age and gender between the two groups. On the other hand, FEV1 was lower in the non-CFB PA group. The calculated FACED score was higher in colonized patients. The most frequent etiology was post-infectious, mainly TB sequels, with a 30.8% unidentified etiology. Conclusions: Patients with bronchiectasis chronically infected with Pseudomonas aeruginosa show increases in the severity of the disease, with a lower FEV1 and a higher FACED score. The postinfectious etiology is highlighted in our group.