CARDIOSPASM IN INFANCY AND IN CHILDHOOD: REPORT OF A CASE IN A CHILD ELEVEN YEARS OF AGE

Cardiospasm in infancy and childhood is extremely rare. This is evidenced by the fact that in over 20,000 roentgen-ray studies of the gastro-intestinal tract made at Bellevue Hospital over a period of six years, the case reported in this paper represents the first one encountered in a child 11 years of age.

A survey of the literature from 1879 to the present time reveals reports of only eleven authentic cases.

CASES REPORTED IN THE LITERATURE  Case 1 (Gottstein¹).—A boy, aged 4 years, complained of dysphagia and vomiting even when small amounts of food were eaten. A sound met with resistance at the cardia. Esophagoscopy showed a normal but contracted cardia, so that the instrument could not be passed. Narcosis failed to relieve this spasm.Case 2 (Freund²).—A boy, aged 2 years and 3 months, was breast fed until he was 4 months old; then he was