Which of the following radiographic findings is associated with cystic fibrosis?

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Cystic fibrosis leads to thick mucus that blocks airways, causing recurrent infections and inflammation that damage the small airways. Over time this results in obstruction, air trapping, and fibrotic scarring. The radiographic appearance that best reflects this chronic, obstructive and scar-forming process is areas of atelectasis and fibrosis—linear or patchy densities where air has collapsed and scar tissue has formed. You may also see bronchial thickening and signs of bronchiectasis with ongoing disease, but the key pattern that ties directly to CF’s chronic airway obstruction is these atelectatic and fibrotic changes. Hyperinflation and flattened diaphragms can occur in CF, but they aren’t as specific to the disease, and right heart enlargement is a possible late consequence rather than a typical early radiographic feature.