Saline is part of airway clearance that those of us with bronchiectasis should do 2x daily.

Our disease means that we have abnormal, dilated airways and mucus accumulates in them causing plugs, opacities, nodules, etc. Our bodies send antibodies, enzymes, etc to fight the disease and everything gets caught and bacteria finds these areas a good place to grow. Airway clearance is how we shake this sputum loose and expel it.

There are 3 ways to get this gook out: percussion which is when someone thumps on our backs to shake it loose or a vest which does the thumping. A flutter device like the aerobika which causes vibration in the lungs. And finally saline which is nebulized into the lungs. The saline adds liquid to the sputum and irritated our airways into giving it up so we can cough it out. Some of us use all three methods 2x every day.

Saline comes in different concentrations, i.e., 7%, 6%, 3% and normal saline of 0.9%. Normal saline is the amount we have in our body fluids and is what we get through an iv when we are hospitalized in order to maintain our normal fluids.

The study concludes that for those with non cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis, nebulizing .9% works just as well as the higher concentrations which some if us find too hard to use.

I hope this long explanation helps.

I have bronchiectasis and my pulmologist began nebulizer treatments with 3% saline immediately. When I did not have much production he ordered me a percussion vest which has helped tremendously in clearing my lungs. This is very important with bronchiectasis. I would think you would be placed on nebulizing right away. Rits gave an excellent explanation. Do you also have MAC and thus the antibiotics?

Hello Marellen! Most of us with bronchiectasis and/or mac infection use nebulized saline in conjunction with our antibiotic treatments. It is considered good lung hygiene, sort of equal to washing your hands, only it's lungs. NIH (National Institute of Health) did studies that showed what strengths of saline killed specific strains of bacteriums. 7% was specific for Avium Bacterium which is mac/ntm. There is a chart that lists those, I will dig through my files and look for it. My Mayo dr had put me on the 7% saline back in 2013. I tested negative for mac by 2014. Mayo drs are held in the highest esteem worldwide, so take my drs choice of 7% as Gospel. I still nebulize saline to this day to keep my lungs clear. I have not read your link to the article yet, but I will. I think the lower % saline may work ok especially for those on the newer meds like Arikayce, I don't know for sure. For those who cannot tolerate the 7%, then go lower, some os better than none in my opinon. All I can say is; back when I first joined this group years ago, hardly anybody was on the saline. Between myself and a few others who preached constantly that we all should be doing it; most in our group here now use it. I will tell you this, when I first became a Mentor for this group; there was a lot of virtual hand-holding. Many members were so sick, crying, and scared. The symptoms of active mac infections can be quite miserable. I have noticed that as more and more of us started using the saline, the level of misery has gone down, and people are starting to test negative for mac.

@marellen From my understanding, the antibiotics are to treat the NTM, (MAC, MAI, etc.). The saline thru the nebulizer is to assist with lung clearance and in making the lungs less hospitable to various mycobacterium infections. Very important for those of us with bronchiectasis. I think most, if not all, on this forum do some type of lung clearance daily. Hope that helps a bit. Others on here are much more knowledgeable regarding this than I am.