Intraluminal intestinal calcification in the newborn.

Meconium ileus is now a well recognized entity and I do not need to dwell upon it in this paper. It is not only the condition in which an abnormality of the intestinal contents causes obstruction in the neonatal period. In recent years more attention has been paid to meconium plugs as a cause of blockage (Clatworthy, Howard and Lloyd, 1956). The object of this paper is to draw attention to a third condition causing intraluminal obstruction in early infancy. I apologize for reporting a single case. The condition seems to be extremely rare; at any rate I have found very few pertinent references in the course of a careful search through the literature. I wonder, however, whether an increased interest in this syndrome may not result in further cases being reported, as has happened before with many other diseases which were originally thought to be rarities. I apologize also for not being able to throw any light upon the causation of this lesion. In spite of a large volume of clinical and biochemical investigation carried out upon this particular infant, the disease remains surrounded by mystery. Any light shed on the little understood physiology of the neonatal intestinal tract is of value and this is a further reason for the publication of this case.