Within 160 pages of text and a bibliography of about 500 references, a comprehensive review of the subject of tetany is presented. The author's own observations extend over a period of ten years.
The work is divided systematically into seven sections, each dealing with the various phases of the subject. Each section is further subdivided to discuss its special aspects. The main divisions are as follows: symptomatology, differential diagnosis, pathologic anatomy, etiology, pathogenesis, prognosis and therapeutics.
The section on symptomatology is divided into two parts; the first part is a discussion of manifest tetany, which includes carpopedal spasm, laryngospasm and bronchospasm; the second part discusses latent tetany, which includes the Chvostek's sign, Trousseau's sign, Lust phenomenon, Pool-Schlesinger's sign and other objective observations.
The author does not consider tetany as belonging to the "spasmophilic diathesis" group which includes laryngospasm and eclampsia. He regards laryngospasm as one of the symptoms of manifest