The Occurrence of Intestinal Atresia in Newborns with Meconium Ileus

Abstract

Obstruction of the intestine shortly after birth by plugs of inspissated, tenacious meconium—generally known as meconium ileus—has been recognized as a complication of pancreatic disease since the observations of Landsteiner¹ in 1905. Following the work of Kornblith and Otani,² indicating an associated congenital stenosis of the main pancreatic duct, and the observations of Dodd,³ suggesting a deficiency of pancreatic enzymes as the cause of meconium ileus, Andersen's⁴ studies of pancreatic achylia clearly indicated that meconium ileus was a complication of cystic fibrosis of the pancreas. The work of Farber,⁵ which established fibrocystic disease as a generalized process, confirmed Andersen's view, and he also demonstrated that the physical abnormality of the meconium was related to defective production of pancreatic enzymes. He postulated that children who survived meconium ileus in the newborn period would later develop the usual clinical manifestations of fibrocystic disease. Later work has indicated