Cystic Fibrosis and Non-Cystic Fibrosis Bronchiectasis

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is an autosomal recessive disease characterized by an elevated sweat chloride level, diffuse bronchiectasis, and pancreatic exocrine deficiency. It is the most common lethal inherited disease in whites. Most patients present at birth or early childhood, although later diagnoses are not infrequent. Once CF was uniformly fatal at an early age, but advances in nutrition, airway clearance, and infection management have led to an average survival of 37 years. The newest aspect of care is the advent of protein modulators, which may increase life expectancy even further. This chapter discusses the epidemiology, genetics, pathophysiology and pathogenesis, diagnosis, differential diagnosis, and treatment of CF. The definition, epidemiology, etiology, pathogenesis, diagnosis, management, and prognosis of non-CF bronchiectasis are also covered. Figures illustrate normal and abnormal CF transmembrane conductance regulators, the vicious cycle hypothesis of lung injury, rates of respiratory germs by age, the diagnosis of CF, the therapeutics pipeline for CF, forced expiratory volume in 1 second lung function percent predicted versus body mass index, and the median predicted