Diagnostic dilemmas, course, management and prognosis of traumatic lung cysts in children

Abstract

The patients were 8 and 9 years old respectively. Both were passengers in a vehicle and suffered multisystem injuries. Case no.1 suffered a fractured occipital bone, lung contusions and a small pneumothorax in addition to the traumatic lung cysts in the left lung. Case 2 sustained contused and lacerated liver and right lung cysts. CT examination showed cystic areas in the lung which were diagnostic in case 2. In case 1 a traumatic rupture of diaphragm could not be ruled out and the patient underwent an exploratory laparotomy to deal with the same. The lung cysts in both the patients were treated conservatively and both showed resolution in repeat CT scans done at 6 months.

Multidetector-row computed tomography of thoracic trauma

“…Diagnosis of pulmonary laceration is usually straightforward on CT; however, a laceration in the lung periphery may occasionally mimic a loculated haemopneumothorax. As the treatment of these two conditions may be different, it is important to differentiate them by reviewing contiguous axial slices and reformatted images (26).…”