1 Department of Pediatrics, The University of British Columbia Vancouver 9, British Columbia, Canada
Cystic fibrosis of the pancreas is an inherited disorder in which progressive pulmonary disease is combined with malabsorption resulting from pancreatic insufficiency. In recent years the management of most children with this disorder has included the prescription of various preparations of exogenous pancreatic enzymes in an attempt to correct malabsorption.
There have been numerous reports of methods used in the measurement of the degree of malabsorption. Using fat balance measurements where 4-day fecal fat collections were employed as the reference standard, Goldbloom, et al.1 compared the reliability of the absorption of vitamin A, I131 triolein, and butterfat absorption as determined by the rise in serum optical density.