Ganglioneuromas have been reported with rarity in children. Because of this fact and on account of the difficulties encountered in diagnosis, we are describing two recently observed cases.
These tumors of the sympathetic nervous system may give rise to symptoms, over a long or a short period, by pressure on or displacement of adjacent organs or tissues. Our first case is a vivid example of this. The tumor occurred in the mediastinum, causing compression and displacement of the trachea with the signs and symptoms of laryngeal or tracheal obstruction. When the patient was first seen by us, the diagnoses of laryngeal diphtheria, a foreign body in the air passages, polypi of the larynx, acute tracheitis, retropharyngeal abscess, hyperplasia of the peritracheal or peribronchial lymph nodes, hypertrophy of the thymus, mediastinal abscess and mediastinal tumor were considered. Many of these conditions were immediately eliminated. Roentgen examination of the chest showed a