The Risk of Cancer among Patients with Cystic Fibrosis

Cystic fibrosis is the commonest recessive genetic disease of whites. About 2 to 4 percent of all white persons carry the gene for cystic fibrosis, and there are approximately 25,000 patients with this disease in the United States. 1 The disease has a broad range of symptoms, including meconium ileus, recurrent suppurative lung infection, sinusitis, and pancreatic insufficiency. Because of improved care, the life span of patients with cystic fibrosis is increasing. In the United States, the median survival of these patients doubled between 1969 and 1990; one third of all patients now attain adulthood. 1 With increasing survival, a predisposition to . . .