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.