COLONIC-CARCINOMA IN 2 ADULT CYSTIC-FIBROSIS PATIENTS

Two adult women with cystic fibrosis (CF) who developed colonic carcin oma, both at age 31, are described. In both patients the carcinoma occ urred in the midtransverse colon. The diagnosis had not been suspected , partly because of the patients' relatively young age. In case 1, the symptoms also mimicked the distal intestinal obstruction syndrome. At diagnosis she was shown to have metastases to the regional lymph node s. In case 2, despite a long history of chronic pulmonary and sinus di sorders, CF was not diagnosed until the patient was 36 pears old. The incidence of gastrointestinal malignancies has been shown to be signif icantly increased in patients with CF. As the life expectancy of the C F population increases, vigilance for gastrointestinal cancers in CF p atients is important, as illustrated by these two cases.