Nocturnal elemental diet for retarded growth in a patient with cystic fibrosis.

The combination of chronic pulmonary sepsis and pancreatic insufficiency in children with 
cystic fibrosis may lead to malnutrition. We describe our experience of 
the long-term use of continuous nocturnal infusion of elemental diet in 
a patient with cystic fibrosis. Our patient tolerated the long-term nocturnal 
elemental diet well, and it enabled her to continue normal everyday 
activity and eat normal meals. The periods of nutritional support coincided 
with periods of increased body weight and total body potassium, indicating 
that the lean body mass was increased. We think that these 
results show a need for further studies of home treatment in 
children with cystic fibrosis. 