Another hypothesis that might relate to prolonged
survival is the susceptibly of infection and the altered
immunity in atelectasis. Nguyen at al. reported that
natural killer and lectin-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity
activities in peripheral blood lymphocytes were
significantly increased in animals with right lower lobe
atelectasis (21). They also reported that atelectasis was
associated with an influx of polymorphonuclear leukocytes
into the bronchoalveolar compartment.However,
in our study, in locally advanced cases, we found no
correlation between atelectasis and CRP,