MULTIPLE CALCAREOUS DEPOSITS IN THE INTESTINAL TRACT OF THE NEWBORN

Abstract

CALCIUM deposits occurring in the meconium of the newborn, under certain pathologic conditions, have been frequently reported. Such observations have usually been made on infants with meconium ileus and peritonitis, the calcified material existing as yellowish flakes in the peritoneal cavity or being plastered to the intestine and various viscera. Rarely has there been any mention of the occurrence of calcification within the intestinal tract, and even in these cases there has always been an accompanying perforation of the intestine with local or general peritonitis. The case which we wish to present we believe is unique in that the infant exhibited extensive calcification of the intestinal contents at birth without any evidence of perforation or concomitant peritonitis. Abt,¹in 1931, summarized the literature on fetal peritonitis and included in his manuscript a case reported by Dubler²in 1888, the lesion in which was described as a curious cyst