The immotile cilia syndrome: explanation for many a clinical mystery.

With the advent of electron microscopy, ciliary abnormalities could be detected, analyzed, and correlated with clinical problems. Kartagener's syndrome, identified over 40 years ago as a triad of sinusitis, bronchiectasis, and situs inversus, was found to actually be a subset of a broader category of diseases: the immotile cilia syndrome. Two other subsets involving multiple organ systems have also been recognized.