By JOHN CAFFEY, MD New York City INFANTILE corticalhyperostosis, hereafter called ICH, was first named andrecognized as a separate entity in 1945 [1]; however, several observers, beginning with Roske in1930 [2] had reported individual cases, similar to ICH, which they could not classify. The single Italian infant described by de Toni in 1943 is of special importance becausehe early recog-nized the congenital and regressive aspects of ICH. This disease is probably a new entity because, prior to 1930, there are no recorded descriptions, either clinical or radiographic, of a syndrome similar to ICH; it is unlikely that earlier clinicians would have overlooked its

A B C FIG. 1.-Prenatal infantile cortical hyperostosis in a feetus 31 weeks of age. A, massive hyperostoses in the bones of the extremities in a lateral projection of the ftetus in utero. B, photo-graph of the dead foetus after delivery by Cwsarean section. Swellings of the face and extremities are similar to those of postnatal ICH. c, rcentgenogram of the foetus ex utero shows hyperostoses in the mandible, ribs, and tubular bones inthe extremities which are similar to those found in postnatal ICH [c, Reproduced by kind permission; Bennett and Nelson, 1953].