Transient Dysproteinemia in Infants, A New Syndrome

Abstract

Within an 18-month period four infants have been seen with the unusual clinical findings of edema, pallor, and marked irritability. Preliminary laboratory studies have demonstrated hypoproteinemia and anemia in the absence of other signs of hepatic or renal disease in each patient. Although similar clinical situations have been discussed previously in pediatric writings,* none of the reported patients appears to have had the same clinical syndrome as those to be described here. For this reason the clinical findings in the four patients will be presented in some detail, and the many laboratory investigations undertaken in an attempt to define pathogenesis of the hypoproteinemia and anemia will be discussed. Report of Cases Case1.—This Caucasian girl was born on Nov. 15, 1953, after an uneventful pregnancy and normal labor. Her birth weight was 3600 gm. (7 lb. 15oz.). She was first seen in the Department of Pediatrics of the University