Malignant Hypertension in Childhood

Essential hypertenision is predominantly a disease of the later years of life. It is uncommon under thirty years, and rare in childhood. Two forms or phases have been described, the benign 6, 7 and the malignant. There seems to be unan-imity of opinion among the writers on the suibject regarding the clinical differentiationi of the two forms, but the pathogenesis of the malignant type is still open to dispute. This type is usuially seen in relatively youing people, the average age being about forty. Cases in children have been recorded by Keith, Wagener, aid Kernohan', by Amberg 2, by Klemperer and Otani3, and by Alturphy and Grill4. In this article we describe the malignant hypertension syndrome and the autopsy findings in a girl of eight, who was observed over a period of eleven months. Clinical report.