UNDERSTANDING of the nasal respiratory changes in cystic fibrosis of the pancreas has developed slowly during the past 20 years. At present this area has received little attention and offers much information to the investigator. An attempt is made to compare the nasal polyps of cystic fibrosis patients to normal nasal respiratory mucosa using various parameters for comparison.
Cystic fibrosis of the pancreas was proposed as a clinical entity by D. H. Anderson in 1938.1 The lack of a physiological mechanism that could explain the specific clinical findings delayed the recognition of the disease until the correlation of the characteristic pancreatic lesions substantiated the disease entity.
The disease usually is manifested soon after birth by gastrointestinal and cardiopulmonary symptomatology.
Gastrointestinal symptoms consist of foul, bulky stools, frequent diarrhea, poor weight gain, frequent episodes of colic. The bronchopulmonary changes consist of various degrees of nasal congestion associated with chronic sinusitis