THE SUDDEN unexpected death of a child in the operating room occurs so infrequently in the experience of any one general surgeon that he may fail to give this problem the attention which it deserves. However, if any active surgeon will go back over the years and collect instances of this catastrophe just within the operating rooms in which he has worked, he will be amazed at the frequency of the occurrence. Then, if he has one patient who recovers successfully by the use of cardiac massage and appropriate resuscitative measures, he regrets that the method has not been used throughout his career and thus is eager to see it put into practice in all operating rooms and by all surgeons. This is the purpose of this presentation. MATERIAL This study covers a 23-year period and records 66 cases of sudden arrest of the heart in children, occurring in the