Congenital lung anomalies: can we postpone resection?

Congenital overinflation: prenatal MRI and US findings and outcomes

“…CO accounted for 17% of all fetal lung lesions evaluated at our institution over the 7‐year time period of this study. This is slightly higher than that reported in most series of congenital lung lesions where CO comprised approximately 6–14% of recognized lung lesions . However, discussions of echogenic fetal lung lesions often underemphasize the prevalence of CO, and the prenatal appearance of CO has not been as well described as CPAM and BPS.…”

“…This is slightly higher than that reported in most series of congenital lung lesions where CO comprised approximately 6-14% of recognized lung lesions. [15][16][17][18][19] However, discussions of echogenic fetal lung lesions often underemphasize the prevalence of CO, and the prenatal appearance of CO has not been as well described as CPAM and BPS. This may be partially related to difficulties in prenatal diagnosis of CO. A lesion without mass effect may be challenging to appreciate depending on the evolving background echogenicity of lung tissue over the course of gestation.…”

Conservative post‐natal management of antenatally diagnosed congenital pulmonary airway malformations

“…Some centres propose surgery in the neonatal period, while others consider the risk of anaesthesia and the length of post‐operative ventilation to be unjustified, and therefore surgery should be delayed to 6 months to 2 years . On the other hand, one study reported no difference in complications between immediate and delayed surgery . However, a greater than two‐fold increase in risk of complications has been reported following emergency surgery in symptomatic patients compared to elective surgery, thus strengthening the argument for early elective surgery.…”

Surgical management of bronchopulmonary malformations

“…Based on these results and the current literature, asymptomatic prenatally diagnosed BPM should undergo surgical management after age 4 mo (Figure); this allows for further lung development after the procedure, accounts for increased infection risk, and increases the likelihood of success with a thoracoscopic approach [2,9,32]. An open approach should be considered in symptomatic patients aged <4 mo and/or <6 kg to promote better visualization while minimizing blood loss and operation and/or anesthesia time.…”