Paroxysmal Nodal Tachycardia Treated With Mecholyl

The occurrence of paroxysmal tachycardia in children is rare, as Taran and Jennings1found from a recent survey of the literature. The treatment for this disorder was frequently uncertain until Starr2worked out a technic which, by the use of acetylbetamethylcholine chloride (mecholyl), was effective in terminating 90 per cent of acute paroxysms in adults. The case described below is of interest because the victim was a child and the attacks were frequently repeated and because mecholyl, when used in adequate dosage, was invariably effective. REPORT OF A CASE A Jewish girl of 6 years came to the Babies Hospital on March 8, 1936, because of an excessively rapid heart action. During her life she had eight similar attacks, lasting from two to fourteen days each. The first of these occurred when she was 9 months old. At the time of its inception she had been riding in