Fibrocystic disease of the pancreas in an adolescent with minimal pulmonary involvement.

Fibrocystic disease of the pancreas is a congenital condition seen most frequently in infancy and early childhood, resulting from the production of excessively viscid mucus in the alimentary and respiratory tracts. It may present within the first few days of life as acute intestinal obstruction, resulting from meconium ileus, and is characterized clinically in later infancy and childhood by steatorrhoea, retarded growth, progressive bronchiectasis and pulmonary fibrosis and, on occasions, cirrhosis of the liver. Two unusual but probably related features make the present case worth recording, namely, the healthy survival of the patient to his present age (16 years) together with the minimal involvement of the respiratory system.