Study design (if review, criteria of inclusion for studies)
crossover trial
Participants
29 CF patients (15 males, 14 females), aged 7-47 years that met the inclusion criteria
Interventions
alternate CPT/PD and HFCWO, on a daily basis, over a 4 day period. Each patient received 2 days of each form of therapy; treatment frequency and the length of treatment were the same for both techniques.
Outcome measures
Expectorated secretions were collected during each 30 minute therapy session and for 15 minutes following treatment. The wet and dry weights of collected secretions were determined gravimetrically, and the therapy methods were compared.
Main results
Significantly more sputum was expectorated during HFCWO than during CPT/PD as determined by both the wet (P < 0.001) and the dry (P < 0.01) measurements.
Authors' conclusions
This study suggests that HFCWO is at least as effective as manual CPT/PD in clearing secretions from the airways in patients with cystic fibrosis.