Dystrophic Changes Associated with Leprechaunism in a Male Infant.

This account by James Stephens (1912) of no less than six male leprechauns seen simultaneously has not been improved upon, for the medical literature to date includes descriptive accounts of only five examples of the rare syndrome of leprechaunism, and only one of these is male. Leprechaunism was first described by Donohue (1948) and later by Donohue and Uchida (1954), Evans (1955), Schaffer (1960) and Patterson and Watkins (1962). It is not a well-defined syndrome and a number of patients with some of the features of leprechaunism have been described under other names by Hall, Sunderman and Gittings (1936), Murray (1952), Berardinelli (1954), Schwartz, Schafer and Renold (1960), Senior (1961), Hitzig and Willi (1961) and Freycon, Jeune, Larbre and Germain (1961). Although these cases are not examples of leprechaunism their importance in the differential diagnosis of the condition will be discussed later. The following account is only the second record of a male infant with leprechaunism.