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Testing: Sputum Eosinophil Count

  • Reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Medical Immunology

  • 184 Accesses

Synonyms

Airway inflammation; Sputum cell count

Definition

Sputum is a respiratory expectorant composed primarily of mucus and does not contain nasopharyngeal secretions or saliva. The sputum eosinophil count refers to the number of eosinophils in sputum, typically expressed as a percentage of the total cell count. Examination of sputum is a noninvasive way to assess for airway inflammation.

Collection and Processing

Sputum can be naturally produced via a productive cough or induced by inhaling bronchial irritants. Protocols for induced sputum typically involve 3 % hypertonic saline administered via nebulizer (AARC 1993; Pavord et al. 1997; National Jewish Health 2010). Oftentimes, patients are pretreated with a bronchodilator. The sample may then be treated with dithiothreitol (DTT), a mucolytic agent, to promote cell dispersion. The sample is centrifuged and subsequently undergoes Wright staining. The differential cell count is then obtained using bright field microscopy.

Sputum...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Department of Pediatrics, National Jewish Health University of Colorado, 1400 Jackson Street J322, Denver, CO, 80206, USA

    Daniel A. Searing

Authors
  1. Daniel A. Searing
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Daniel A. Searing .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia

    Ian R. Mackay

  2. Center for Autoimmune Disease Research, Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Department of Pathology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Noel R. Rose

  3. Division of Allergy and Immunology, Department of Internal Medicine, University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine, James A. Haley Veterans' Hospital, Tampa, FL, USA

    Dennis K. Ledford

  4. Division of Allergy and Immunology, Department of Internal Medicine, University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine, James A. Haley Veterans' Hospital, Tampa, FL, USA

    Richard F. Lockey

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© 2014 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Searing, D.A. (2014). Testing: Sputum Eosinophil Count. In: Mackay, I.R., Rose, N.R., Ledford, D.K., Lockey, R.F. (eds) Encyclopedia of Medical Immunology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9194-1_508

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9194-1_508

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-9193-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-9194-1

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