Cystic Fibrosis Health Article

Alternative treatment

In homeopathic medicine, the symptoms of the disease would be addressed to enhance the quality of life for the person with cystic fibrosis. Treating the cause of CF, because of the genetic basis for the disease, is not possible. Homeopathic medicine seeks to treat the whole person, however, and in CF, this approach might include:

• mucolytics to help thin mucous
• supplementation of pancreatic enzymes to assist in digestion
• respiratory symptoms can be addressed to open lung passages
• hydrotherapy techniques to help ease the respiratory symptoms and help the body eliminate
• immune enhancements can help revent the development of secondary infections
• dietary enhancements and adjustments are used to treat digestive and nutritional problems

Prognosis

People with CF may lead relatively normal lives with the control of symptoms. The possible effect of pregnancy on the health of a woman with CF requires careful consideration before beginning a family as do issues of longevity and their children's status as carriers. Although most men with CF are functionally sterile, new procedures for removing sperm from the testes are being tried, and may offer more men the chance to become fathers.

Approximately half of people with CF live past the age of 30. Because of better and earlier treatment, a person born today with CF is expected, on average, to live to age 40.

Prevention

Adults with a family history of cystic fibrosis may obtain a genetic test of their carrier status for purposes of family planning. Prenatal testing is also available. There is currently no known way to prevent development of CF in a person with two defective gene copies.

BOOKS

Harris, Ann, and Maurice Super. Cystic Fibrosis: The Facts. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995.

Orenstein, David. Cystic Fibrosis: A Guide for Patient and Family. Philadelphia: Lippincott-Raven, 1997.

ORGANIZATIONS

Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. 6931 Arlington Road, Bethesda, MD 20814. (800) 344-4823. <http://www.cff.org>.

OTHER

CysticFibrosis.com. <http://www.cysticfibrosis.com>.

Richard Robinson

DOROTHY ANDERSEN, MD (1901–1963)

Dorothy Andersen was born on May 15, 1901, in Asheville, North Carolina. She was the only child of Hans Peter Andersen and the former Mary Louise Mason. Orphaned as a young adult, Andersen put herself through Saint Johnsbury Academy and Mount Holyoke College before enrolling in the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, from which she received her M.D. in 1926.

Andersen turned instead to medical research as a pathologist at Babies Hospital of the Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York City, where she stayed for more than 20 years, eventually becoming chief of pathology in 1952. Andersen is probably best known for discovery of cystic fibrosis in 1935. That discovery came about during the postmortem examination of a child who had supposedly died of celiac disease, a nutritional disorder. She searched for similar cases in the autopsy files and in medical literature, eventually realizing that she had found a disease that had never been described and to which she gave the name cystic fibrosis.

KEY TERMS

Carrier—A person with one copy of a defective gene, who does not have the disease it causes, but can pass along the defective gene to offspring.

CFTR—Cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator, the protein responsible for regulating chloride movement across cells in some tissues. When a person has two defective copies of the CFTR gene, cystic fibrosis is the result.

Emphysema—A pathological accumulation of air in organs or tissues; term especially applied to the condition when in the lungs.

Mucociliary escalator—The coordinated action of tiny projections on the surfaces of cells lining the respiratory tract, which moves mucus up and out of the lungs.

Mucolytic—An agent that dissolves or destroys mucin, the chief component of mucus.

Pancreatic insufficiency—Reduction or absence of pancreatic secretions into the digestive system due to scarring and blockage of the pancreatic duct.