Evidences of Disturbed Prenatal and Neonatal Growth in Bones of Infants Aged One Month

In a previous communication, one of us1has described the appearance and incidence of circular striae in the tarsal bones of infants at the age of 1 month. These striae appeared in lateral roentgenograms of the foot as fine white lines, usually from 0.5 to 1 mm. inside the margin of the calcaneous and of the talus. In a few instances there were present about the periphery solid bands or thickened temporary zones of calcification which later became resolved into a stria. We have interpreted these annular striae and thickened temporary zones, shown diagrammatically in the figure, as representing the same kind of physiologic process as do the striae caused by growth in long bones. Eliot, Souther and Park,2Kohler,3Sontag and Comstock4and others have described such striae of the long bones. There is evidence that they may be produced by any factor which sufficiently