Kartagener's syndrome: a classical case.

BACKGROUND: Recurrent lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI) is a very common problem we encounter in our clinical practice. Failure to recognize the specific cause of this condition may subject the patients to unnecessary and inappropriate treatment.

CASE DETAILS: among the various causes of recurrent LRTI, the most frequent causes are abnormalities of general or local impairment of immune mechanism and abnormalities of cilia or mucus of respiratory tract. We report an adult case of recurrent upper and lower respiratory tract infections since childhood along with situs inversus totalis which was diagnosed as Kartagener's syndrome. He had all the classical clinical and radiological features of Kartagener's syndrome which is a rare inherited disorder which is seen in nearly half of the cases of primary cilliary dyskinesia (PCD).

CONCLUSION: One should always keep in mind the possibilities of Kartagener's syndrome in patients presenting with recurrent upper and lower respiratory tract infections, sinusitis or bronchiectasis. Inability to diagnose this condition may subject the patient to unnecessary and repeated hospital admissions, investigations and treatment failure.