In the latter half of the year 1936, 3 children with cervical rib were seen at the John Gaston Hospital and at the outpatient clinic for diagnosis and treatment. This succession of cases within so short an interval of an entity usually described as producing symptoms only in adults suggested the possibility that similar cases might previously have been overlooked. It led to a review of 1,000 consecutive roentgenograms of the chests of children under 13 years of age taken at the John Gaston Hospital and at the outpatient clinic beginning Jan. 1, 1936. The result of this review and the reports of the 3 cases observed are incorporated in this paper, together with a general discussion of cervical rib in early life.
Cervical rib was first described, long ago, by Galen and Vesalius, and since their time many and prolific have been the writers who have observed this anomaly