Cystic Pulmonary Airway Malformation in Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire)

Abstract

Case StudyCystic pulmonary airway malformation, or Craig's disease, is a rare congenital abnormality of lung development and accounts for a quarter of congenital malformations of the lung. 1 The condition is characterized by a bronchogenic cystic proliferation caused by an arrest of lung development occurring primarily at the approximate sixth week of pregnancy. 1,2 Although familial cases are described, Craig's disease does not appear to be related to ethnic or genetic predispositions. Its evolution is unpredictable, hence the necessity of rigorous postnatal supervision. The discovery of three cystic pulmonary airway malformations during routine sonographic screening during prenatal surveillance is reported below, with a second objective of identifying the role of medical imaging in the prenatal diagnosis and management of this condition. Case Report 1A 24-year-old woman with no previous significant medical or surgical history presented for routine sonographic evaluation in her 26th week of pregnancy. This second obstetric sonogram, conducted as part of the prenatal check of the second term, showed a fetus without any fetal distress, with note made of right lung macrocysts with diameters greater than 2 cm (Figures 1 and 2). Color Doppler evaluation highlighted pulmonary vascularization feeding those 618209J DMXXX10.1177/8756479315618209Journal of Diagnostic Medical SonographyKonaté et al. research-article2015Abstract Cystic pulmonary airway malformation, or Craig's disease, is a rare congenital abnormality of lung development. Medical imaging, particularly Doppler ultrasound, is currently one of the recommended methods for prenatal diagnosis and for the monitoring of this condition. We report three cases of Craig's disease diagnosed at ultrasound: one at 26 weeks of amenorrhea and two others at 30 weeks of amenorrhea. We discuss according to the literature the main ultrasound aspects and specify the place of other radiographic explorations during the monitoring of this condition. Figure 1. Sagittal gray-scale fetal image showing multiple macrocysts (arrow) scattered throughout the right lung.