Thoracoscopic lobectomy for a 4-day-old neonate with a large congenital pulmonary airway malformation: a case report

Treatment of congenital pulmonary airway malformation with rare high cystic volume ratio: A case report and literature review

RATIONALE

Congenital pulmonary airway malformation (CPAM) is a rare congenital dysplastic malformation and accounts for 25% of congenital lung lesions. Commonly, it is diagnosed prenatally in ultrasound. The CPAM volume ratio (CVR) is a well-recognized predictor of fetal prognosis, and when the CVR is >1.6 cm2, the fetus is very likely to develop hydrops and even intrauterine deaths. However, the association of CVR with a wide range of complications and neonatal prognosis is unclear.

PATIENT CONCERNS

Cystic lesions in the right thorax of the fetus detected by ultrasound at 19 weeks of gestation, with a CVR of 0.88 cm2. The CVR grew progressively with increasing gestational weeks, reaching a maximum of 5.2 cm2 at 35 gestational weeks. However, there were no complications with the fetus other than polyhydramnios.

DIAGNOSIS

Imaging and pathological findings confirmed the diagnosis of CPAM.

INTERVENTIONS

During pregnancy, a multidisciplinary team was involved in the management and the prenatal visits increased to weekly from 31 weeks of gestation. During the cesarean section, neonatologists and pediatric surgeons were present for timely evaluation of newborns. The neonate was admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit for monitoring immediately after birth and underwent thoracoscopic right lower lobectomy at 57th days old.

OUTCOMES

The neonate recovered without any respiratory symptoms and no abnormality on chest computed tomography (CT) at the 3-month postoperative follow-up.

LESSONS

During pregnancy, in addition to monitoring CVR, a multidisciplinary team should join in the management of CPAM patients. And as for the fetus with increased CVR, a closely monitoring after birth is necessary even if the general condition of the pregnancy is well. In particular, timely intervention should be made at the onset of respiratory symptoms.

Thoracoscopic Repair of Iatrogenic Bronchial Injury in a Neonate during Bronchogenic Cyst Excision

Thoracoscopic surgery was not previously accepted in the neonatal population due to inappropriate instrumentation and lack of experience. However, our experience in the last few decades has slowly yet steadily established its safety and efficacy. The major advantages that thoracoscopy offers are early recovery and fewer long-term complications. However, we are aware that this comes at the cost of a steep learning curve and the potential challenge of facing certain complications which may compel a conversion to open. There is a paucity of literature regarding intraoperative complications of neonatal thoracoscopy and its management. Conversion to open thoracotomy is appropriate, keeping patient safety in mind, and any decision made to continue management of a complication thoracoscopically is technically demanding. Iatrogenic bronchial injury is one such rare complication of thoracoscopy with a limited mention in literature. We describe below a 25-day-old patient with a bronchogenic cyst who sustained injury to the left bronchus during thoracoscopic cyst excision, which was successfully repaired thoracoscopically.

Combined Pre- and Postnatal Minimally Invasive Approach to a Complex Symptomatic Congenital Pulmonary Airway Malformation

Congenital pulmonary airway malformation (CPAM) is a rare congenital lung lesion that usually remains asymptomatic during the fetal and neonatal period. However, it can occasionally cause prenatal cardiocirculatory failure and fetal hydrops, requiring a thoraco-amniotic shunt (TAS) placement. In other cases, it can also cause symptoms at birth (such as respiratory distress) and may require urgent surgical intervention. Thoracoscopic lobectomy for neonates is rarely reported. Here, we report a case of right macrocystic CPAM causing fetal hydrops at 27 weeks of gestation. The fetus was treated with a TAS placement that successfully resolved the hydrops. At 39 weeks of gestation, a male neonate was born (weight 2,850 g). The TAS spontaneously displaced during delivery, causing an open pneumothorax (PNX), initially treated with a drainage. His condition gradually worsened, requiring ventilatory support. Computed tomography (CT) scan showed different giant cysts in the context of the right lower lobe, left mediastinal shift, and compression of the rest of the lung. An urgent surgical management was required. A thoracoscopic right lower lobectomy was performed at 10 days of life (weight 2,840 g). The postoperative course was uneventful; the child remained totally asymptomatic and showed a good recovery. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first reported case of open iatrogenic PNX following TAS positioning and the second of neonatal thoracoscopic lobectomy in a newborn weighting less than 3 kg. The purpose of this report is to indicate that minimally invasive surgery is feasible, safe, and effective for the resection of CPAM, even in small newborns.

Medium-Term Pulmonary Function Test After Thoracoscopic Lobectomy and Segmentectomy for Congenital Lung Malformation: A Comparative Study With Normal Control

Purpose: This study aimed to compare the outcomes and pulmonary function test (PFT) of thoracoscopic segmentectomy and lobectomy in infants with congenital lung malformation and study the result of PFT on a medium-term basis. Methods: The clinical data of 19 infants with congenital lung malformation who underwent thoracoscopic surgery in our hospital from January 2018 to March 2019 were retrospectively studied; these infants were paired with another 19 infants who underwent thoracoscopic lobectomy during the same period using propensity score matching. Age-matched healthy individuals with similar body sizes were recruited for PFT as the control group. Patient characteristics, postoperative PFT, and outcomes were extracted for statistical analysis. Results: The average length of hospital stay did not significantly differ between segmentectomy and lobectomy groups. The segmentectomy group had more chest tube drainage than the lobectomy group. PFT 1 month after the operation showed that the tidal volume of the lobectomy group was lower than that of the segmentectomy group. Time to peak expiratory flow/time of expiration and peak flow/terminal airway velocity (V25%) indicated small airway dysfunction in the lobectomy group, and no obvious abnormalities were found in "time of inspiratory/time of expiration" in either group. Reexamination of pulmonary function 2 years after the operation showed that the small airway function of the segmentectomy group returned to normal, and no significant difference in pulmonary function was noted among the three groups. Conclusion: The short-term pulmonary function recovery was better after segmentectomy than after lobectomy. Patients who underwent thoracoscopic lobectomy and segmentectomy have normal lung function 2 years after the operation.