PANCREATIC FUNCTION AND DISEASE IN EARLY LIFE

Abstract

Recent studies of the celiac syndrome have led to the separation of a group of patients with a clinical picture similar in many respects to that of idiopathic celiac disease.¹ The terms cystic fibrosis of the pancreas and pancreatic fibrosis have been used to describe the pathologic state in the pancreas. In these patients, pancreatic achylia or hypochylia has been demonstrated as a constant and characteristic finding, in contrast to the relatively normal values in idiopathic celiac disease.² Indeed, analysis of activity of pancreatic enzymes in the duodenal content has become the most reliable method of differentiation between these two diseases. The greatest value of this procedure has been found in establishment of proof of the existence of pancreatic fibrosis in infants under 12 months of age in whom symptoms involving the respiratory system obscure the nutritional aspect of the disease.³ For the convenience of those who