Children with congenital lung malformation in terms of age of diagnosis

Abstract

<b>Introduction:</b> Congenital lung malformations (CLM) are heterogeneous group of rare diseases. <b>Aims:</b> To compare the clinical characteristics of children with CLM diagnosed in the prenatal and postnatal period. <b>Methods:</b> Gender, age, complaints, age at diagnosis, diagnostic methods, gestational age, parental consanguinity, presence and reasons of operation, age at operation and complications of all patients with CLM were evaluated. <b>Results:</b> Of 36 patients with CLM, 7 had congenital lobar emphysema, 8 had congenital cystic adenomatoid malformation (CCAM), 12 had pulmonary sequestration (PS), 4 had bronchogenic cysts, 2 had CCAM and PS. 16 (44%) patients were female and current mean age was 6.7±5.8 years. 17 patients diagnosed in prenatal period and had no complaints. The most common complaints of patients diagnosed in postnatal period were cough and recurrent infections. Median age at diagnosis was 30 (min:0; max:1080) days. 17 patients were diagnosed by prenatal ultrasonography, 14 by CT, and 5 by ultrasonography. Parental consanguinity was present in 20.6% and 88.9% of all patients were born in term. 11 patients were operated, and 2 regressed spontaneously. Mean age at operation was 16.9±14.8 months. 3 operated patients had growth retardation, and 8 had recurrent pneumonia. During follow-up of operated patients, 4 had recurrent pneumonia, 4 had rib fusion, and 2 had scoliosis. The mean follow up duration of patients diagnosed in prenatal period without complaints was 36.5±4.7 months and 24.0±12.7 months for others, and there was a statistically significant difference between them (p=0.024). <b>Conclusions:</b> Prenatal diagnosis will ensure that patients with CLM experience fewer complications with early intervention.