Infants born with esophageal atresia and tracheoesophageal fistula (TEF) had a grim prognosis prior to the 1940s. However, with better anesthesia, better operative management (delayed, staged, or primary), and neonatal intensive care units, the survival of patients with this anomaly has increased to 75% to 90%. The patients who survived in the 1940s and 1950s are now producing children who may have an increased likelihood of esophageal anomalies.
This report details the occurrence of esophageal atresia with a distal fistula in the father and an H-type tracheoesophageal fistula in his daughter.
Report of Cases.—Case 1.—A 2.9-kg baby boy born at term in 1955 vomited all feedings and had heavy oral secretions noted after a normal delivery at an outlying hospital. Diagnosis of esophageal atresia was made on the fourth day of life and a gastrostomy was performed with the patient under local anesthesia. The infant was fed through