MECONIUM ILEUS ASSOCIATED WITH STENOSIS OF THE PANCREATIC DUCTS

Abstract

The association of inspissation of meconium in the newborn resulting in obstruction of the intestine (meconium ileus) and cystic fibrosis of the pancreas was first reported by Landsteiner,¹ in 1900. Kornblith and Otani² in 1929, by many serial sections of the pancreas in a case of meconium ileus, demonstrated a marked stenosis of the duodenal end of the duct of Wirsung with extreme dilatation of the duct. These investigators concluded that the stenosis of the duct of Wirsung produced the changes in the pancreas and that these, in turn, caused absence of pancreatic secretion in the intestine with alteration of the meconium. The case reports of meconium ileus by Dodd³ in 1936, Bronaugh and Lattimer⁴ in 1940, Denzer⁵ in 1941 and Sobel⁶ in 1941 described cystic dilatation of the pancreatic ducts, but studies of the pancreas by serial sections were not performed. The occurrence