Leiomyomas of the small intestine in the adult are not common but are occasionally encountered. The literature has been reviewed by Golden and Stout1; Morton, Stabins, and Morton2; Starr and Dockerty3; Straus and O'Kane4; Cherry and Hill,5 and Eckel.6 Pennino and Abbene7 have described a case of a leiomyosarcoma in a 7-month-old infant; they believe that the leiomyoma can become malignant. Roth and Farinacci8 report a case of a leiomyosarcoma in a newborn infant.
As far as we know, this is the first case of a successfully resected leiomyoma of the jejunum in a newborn infant to be reported. Leiomyomas are benign tumors, and, according to Andersen,9 most benign tumors in children are malformations. Yet one might wonder whether the hamartomatous leiomyoma is not a precursor of the malignant variety; such an assumption supports the congenital anlage theory (Cohnheim-Ribbert).
Report of