CAN HISTOLOGIC CRITERIA OF NASAL POLYPS BE USED TO SCREEN FOR CYSTIC-FIBROSIS

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is the most common autosomal recessive disorder i n Caucasians, occurring in 1 in 2,000 live births. Since the CF gene w as discovered in 1985 greater than 200 gene mutations have been identi fied, making a population-wide screening program very costly. A high-r isk group is needed for screening. Nasal polyps (NPs) occur in 20% of CF patients and chronic sinusitis in almost all patients. This study w as undertaken to potentially identify individuals with mild CF by revi ewing the histologic findings of nasal polyps. Three groups of nasal p olyps were examined from patients with CF, patients with allergic dise ase, and patients with nonallergic disease and sinusitis. Polyps were stained with hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) and Alcian blue-periodic acid Schiff (AB-PAS) and examined by a pathologist. CF polyps were found t o be morphologically different from non-CF polyps on H&E staining. CF nasal polyps had a thin subepithelial hyaline layer and lower eosinoph il infiltrates in the polyp stroma. Objective measurements were obtain ed to confirm our results and findings were statistically significant. These findings suggest that nasal polyp histology may be used to iden tify a population of patients with mild CF for genetic screening.