Diffuse hyperplasia of the parathyroid glands is a rare condition in infancy, and both the clinical picture and the histologic structure of the parathyroid glands differ somewhat from those of the comparable disorder in adults. As far as we can ascertain, two previous fatal cases1,2 have been reported with both clinical and postmortem descriptions. In addition, a probable further example of this condition, with apparently successful surgical intervention, has been reported by Landon.3 In these three cases the disease process was present in early infancy, and in two of the cases it proved fatal. The present report describes a further example of infantile hyperparathyroidism resulting from diffuse hyperplasia of the parathyroid glands.
Report of Case
The patient was born in May, 1960, the first child of a deaf and dumb, severely mentally retarded mother. At birth he weighed 5 lb. 4¼ oz. (about 2,388 gm.). He was admitted