Prenatal diagnosis of an extralobar pulmonary sequestration

Abstract

Extralobar pulmonary sequestrations (ELS) are masses of non-functioning lung tissue that are supplied by an anomalous systemic artery and do not have a bronchial connection to the native tracheobronchial tree. On prenatal ultrasonography, an ELS appears as a well-defined echodense, homogeneous mass. Detection by color flow Doppler ultrasonography of a systemic artery from the aorta to the fetal lung lesion is a pathognomonic feature of fetal ELS. In this case report, we describe the sonographic diagnosis of an ELS in a fetus at 22 weeks' gestation with a review of the available literature.