Cholelithiasis in a neonate.

was emphasized by Bodian (1952). Necropsy examination of the liver in 46 patients, ranging in age from 2 days to 7 years, showed biliary ductule byperplasia or focal biliary fibrosis or both, in 35 patients, 8 ofwhom were 2 weeks old or younger. Consequently, it seems probable that liver scans show a situation which is present in most CF patients. We agree with Feigelson et al. (1972) that scintiscanning is an easy means of showing liver involvement, and the very small dose of radioactive material and short half-life of 99-5 minutes suggest that long-term complications from the radioisotope would be unlikely to occur. However, in our study scans did not show liver disease of an unsuspected severity, and they did not enable us to offer any modification of treatment. Since we did not find a correleation between scan appearances and the ages of the patients or their Shwachman scores, we do not think that the procedure would contribute substantially to assessment of prognosis in CF.