Numerous anomalies of the nervous system other than mental deficiencies or derangement of the central nervous system associated with congenital heart disease have been described,1 such as: abnormal conformations of the skull, spina bifida, hydrocephalus, anencephaly, facial paralysis, ptosis and bilateral micro-ophthalmus. Muscular hypotonia associated with congenital heart disease has heretofore not been reported.
Normally, hypotonia is frequently found persisting in infants up to the age of 9 or 10 months. If it continues after this age and the child is unable to hold its head erect or later is unable to walk, a pathologic condition should be suspected. A frequent and well defined pathologic state of hypotonia is found in amyotonia congenita, or Oppenheim's disease.2 This condition, which occurs in children in the first year of life, manifests itself by a marked hypotonia of the muscles. They are in an extreme state of flaccidity, feel weak and