Crohn's disease - a cause of arthritis, oxalate stones and fistulae in cystic fibrosis.

In most patients with cystic fibrosis growth failure occurs because of malabsorption 
or moderate to severe pulmonary disease, or both. Occasionally, growth lag 
is seen in patients that is disproportionate to the severity of 
the primary disease. Profound growth failure is a major characteristic of 
Crohn's disease in children. This report documents the first association of 
these two diseases in the same patient in the United States 
and shows how Crohn's disease alters the gastrointestinal manifestations of cystic 
fibrosis. An adolescent patient with cystic fibrosis, anemia, fistulae, arthritis and 
calcium oxalate stones was proven to have Crohn's disease by microscopic 
evaluation of surgically resected terminal ileum and colon. 