Cystic fibrosis: CT findings of colonic disease

To determine the computed tomographic (CT) findings that are indicative of bowel disease in patients with cystic fibrosis.

CT scans in patients with cystic fibrosis were retrospectively reviewed for evidence of colonic abnormalities, including wall thickening, mural striation, fatty proliferation of the mesentery, and soft-tissue infiltration of pericolonic fat.

Ten patients with colonic abnormalities on CT scans (case patients) and 16 patients with normal CT results (cohort patients) were identified. Colonic abnormalities in case patients included wall thickening (mean thickness, 6.4 mm) and mesenteric infiltration in all, increased pericolonic fat in six, and mural striation in five. The right colon was involved in all case patients; contiguous extension involved the transverse colon in five, the descending colon in two, and all segments in one. Wall thickness in cohort patients was less than 2 mm. Eight case patients had abdominal pain; one had bloody diarrhea. Histopathologic examination results included nonspecific mucosal inflammation in four case patients, wall edema in one, and no abnormality in one. No patient had identifiable infectious colitis, colonic stricture, bowel obstruction, fibrosis, or Crohn disease. Mean dose of pancreatic enzyme replacement was similar in both groups.

Proximal colonic wall thickening without stricture, pericolonic fat proliferation, and mesenteric infiltration are CT findings of colonic disease associated with cystic fibrosis.