CONGENITAL MALFORMATIONS OF THE INTESTINAL TRACT AND BILE DUCTS IN INFANCY AND IN CHILDHOOD

Abstract

In a series of 45,000 admissions to the St. Louis Children's Hospital during the past fifteen years there have been 81 instances (see table) of congenital malformation of the intestine and bile ducts. Obviously, most of the lesions herein described occurred in new-born infants, many of whom were admitted from the maternity wards of Barnes Hospital. Although hypertrophic pyloric stenosis, as seen in infants, is dependent on a congenital cause, it will not be discussed in detail since a review of the cases occurring in this clinic was recently made by Clopton and Hartmann.¹ They reported a total of 81 cases in which an operation was performed. The history in these cases is usually typical. The first two or three weeks of life may be uneventful or broken by an occasional attack of vomiting. During the third or fourth week the obstruction becomes most marked and the vomiting is