Abstract
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the frequency and extent of aortic precursor lesions (fatty streaks, early fibro-musculoelastic lesions, late fibromusculoelastic lesions) found at autopsy in cystic fibrosis. Patients with this disease suffer from fat malabsorption and thus provide a unique experimental model for evaluation of the hypothesis that low fat intake may prevent atherosclerosis. Other patients with debilitating disorders but with no apparent impairment of fat absorption served as controls. Autopsy material from 35 patients, 9 with cystic fibrosis and 26 with leukemia and other malignancies were studied.
Fatty streaks were less common in the cystic fibrosis group (p. < .001) as were the late fibromusculoelastic lesions (p. = .007). There was no significant difference in the frequency, length, or thickness of the early fibromusculoelastic lesions. The findings suggest that fat is responsible for progression but not initiation of the fibromusculoelastic precursor lesions.
The results support the concept that early restriction of dietary fat may prevent, delay, or otherwise modify atherosclerosis in the adult.
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Moss, T., Austin, G. & Moss, A. 141 PRE-ATHEROSCLEROTIC AORTIC LESIONS IN CYSTIC FIBROSIS. Pediatr Res 12 (Suppl 4), 387 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-197804001-00146
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-197804001-00146