Pulmonary sequestration presenting as mitral valve insufficiency

Intralobar pulmonary sequestration: diagnostic expertise

An obese 22-year-old man with a history of recurrent respiratory infections presented to the emergency room with left pleuritic chest pain, productive cough with mucupurulent sputum and an axillary temperature of 37.7°C. Blood work showed elevated inflammatory parameters and chest X-ray was relevant for heterogeneous infiltration in the left base and opacity of the left costophrenic angle. An angio-CT scan revealed areas of bilateral consolidation with presence of an arterial branch originating from the aorta to the collected area of the left lower lobe, consistent with a respiratory infection grafted on a intralobar pulmonary sequestration of the left lung base. The infectious process was treated and the patient was planned for a lower left lobectomy.

Concurrent aortic valvular disease and pulmonary sequestration: clinical implications

Pulmonary sequestration refers to segmental lung tissue that has no connection with the bronchial tree or pulmonary arteries. In adults, the clinical sequelae are usually related to infection. Patients are typically referred for sequestrectomy even when they are asymptomatic. There are no guidelines for treating patients who have pulmonary sequestration and coexisting cardiac valvular disease, in which case the venous drainage patterns of sequestra pose the additional risks of infective endocarditis and volume overload. We present the cases of 2 adult patients--one symptomatic and one asymptomatic--who had concurrent aortic valvular disease and pulmonary sequestration, and we discuss the factors involved in our evaluation of their cardiac risk and our treatment decisions. In view of the sparse data to predict cardiac risks, we think that pulmonary sequestrectomy in adult patients with concurrent valvular conditions should be considered on a case-by-case basis.

A rare case of underlying pulmonary sequestration in a patient with recently diagnosed medium and large vessel vasculitis

Vasculitis of medium- and large-sized arteries is an inflammatory and stenotic disease characterized by a strong predilection for the aortic arch and its branches. It presents with symptoms and signs as per the vessels and organs involved. Pulmonary sequestration is a rare abnormality characterized by a mass of nonfunctioning lung tissue that receives its vascular supply from a systemic artery and is separated from the normal tracheobronchial tree. The following is a rare case report showing the presence of pulmonary sequestration in a patient with recently diagnosed hypertension and intestinal angina due to medium and large vessel vasculitis.

Pulmonary sequestration: a single-institutional series composed of 27 cases

OBJECTIVE

Large series about pulmonary sequestration from a single institute are rare in the literature. In this study, we aimed to evaluate diagnosis, treatment, and outcomes of pulmonary sequestration in a single institute.

METHODS

Records of patients with pulmonary sequestration between January 1982 and January 2006 were reviewed retrospectively. Age, sex, symptoms, diagnostic procedures, operative findings, operative techniques, postoperative complications, and follow-up results were evaluated.

RESULTS

Twenty-seven patients, 17 male and 10 female, with an average age of 23.3 were operated on for pulmonary sequestration. Twenty patients had preoperative symptoms including recurrent pneumonia attacks, chest pain, hemoptysis, and shortness of breath. Chest radiography, thoracic computed tomography, aortography, magnetic resonance imaging, and bronchoscopy were used as diagnostic methods. Of the cases, 19 (70%) were intralobar pulmonary sequestration and 8 (30%) were extralobar pulmonary sequestration. Surgical procedures were lower lobectomy in 18 and segmentectomy in 1 of the patients with intralobar pulmonary sequestration and simple mass excision in all of those with extralobar pulmonary sequestration. Postoperative histopathologic examinations excluded any other alternative diagnosis. Furthermore, it detected an aspergilloma ball in 1 of the intralobar pulmonary sequestration specimens. Two patients had a postoperative complication (prolonged air leak in 1 patient and empyema in the other). During the follow-up period (mean 2.3 years), none of the patients presented a problem. No mortality was encountered.

CONCLUSION

Owing to the potentially severe complications they can cause, pulmonary sequestrations should be removed whenever they are diagnosed. Since careful dissection provides sufficient surgical comfort, preoperative identification of the aberrant vessels is not a rule for the success of the operation.

Seqüestro pulmonar: uma série de nove casos operados

Seqüestro pulmonar é uma anomalia congênita que envolve parênquima e vascularização pulmonar e apresenta-se como extralobar ou intralobar. Objetivo: Descrever os casos de seqüestro pulmonar tratados no InCor e Hospital das Clínicas da FMUSP no período de 1987 a 1996. Método: Análise retrospectiva dos prontuários. Resultados: Foram tratados nove pacientes, sendo quatro mulheres e cinco homens; duas crianças e sete adultos. Infecção respiratória de repetição e hemoptise foram achados clínicos freqüentes nesses pacientes. Todos os casos eram intralobares. A principal localização foi no lobo inferior esquerdo (66%). Apenas um diagnóstico foi intra-operatório. Nos outros oito casos, o diagnóstico foi suspeitado pela radiografia de tórax (100%) e confirmado pela arteriografia (77%) e/ou tomografia computadorizada (66%). Lobectomia (77%) foi o principal tratamento cirúrgico, com baixa morbidade pós-operatória e sem mortalidade. Exame anatomopatológico foi realizado em sete casos e confirmou a doença. Conclusões: O seqüestro pulmonar é uma entidade incomum, em que a tomografia computadorizada e a arteriografia são os exames que mais informações oferecem para um diagnóstico definitivo e seguro. A ressecção do tecido envolvido leva a excelentes resultados.

Pulmonary sequestration: a comparison between pediatric and adult patients

OBJECTIVE

Modern large single institutional reports on pulmonary sequestration (PS) are extremely rare. We were interested in comparing patients with PS referred by our pediatric versus adult pulmonologists.

METHODS

Hospital notes of all patients operated on between 1978 and 1997 for a congenital broncho-pulmonary malformation were reviewed. In 28 patients, the parenchymal lesion was vascularized by a systemic artery and was separated from the bronchial tree, thus matching the strict definition of PS. Patient characteristics and outcome were analyzed comparing the pediatric group (< or =16 years: n=13; mean age, 3+/-5 years) versus the adult group (>16 years: n=15; mean age, 33+/-13 years).

RESULTS

No significant differences between both groups were observed in sex, side, type of sequestration, pulmonary venous drainage, associated anomalies, hospital and late outcome, and patient's overall score. Patients (n=21) with the intralobar type of sequestration presented significantly more often with an infection when compared with patients (n=7) with the extralobar type (91 versus 14%; P=0.0033). When compared with the pediatric group, patients in the adult group had significantly more respiratory infections (87 versus 38%; P=0.016), and also required a lobectomy more often (67 versus 31%; P=0.056).

CONCLUSIONS

The extralobar type of sequestration often remains asymptomatic, and is usually an incidental finding during infancy. The intralobar type mostly presents with recurrent infections in adulthood resulting in more lobectomies. We believe these findings support our current policy to remove any pulmonary malformation whenever diagnosed in order to: (1), prevent infection and other potentially serious late complications which may compromise the surgical outcome; and (2), enhance the chance of a parenchymal-sparing resection.