Bronchial atresia: the hidden pathology within a spectrum of prenatally diagnosed lung masses.
OBJECTIVE
This study was aimed at determining whether different congenital lung masses represent diverse manifestations of a single developmental abnormality associated with fetal airway obstruction.


METHODS
We conducted a 3-year retrospective review of patients who underwent surgical resection of a prenatally diagnosed lung mass. Prenatal imaging was used to define mass position and its effect on adjacent organs. Lung specimens were examined through careful full-specimen microdissections, as well as by plain and contrast roentgenograms.


RESULTS
Twenty-five patients underwent lung resection during this study period. Based on the final pathology reports, 56% were congenital cystic adenomatoid malformations, 12% were congenital lobar emphysemas, 8% were bronchopulmonary sequestrations, and 24% had features of both cystic adenomatoid malformation and bronchopulmonary sequestrations. No bronchogenic cysts were present in this series. Overall, bronchial atresia was identified in 77% of the examined specimens (n = 22) and was associated with all types of lung malformations.


CONCLUSIONS
Bronchial atresia is a common, unrecognized component of prenatally diagnosed congenital cystic adenomatoid malformations, bronchopulmonary sequestrations, congenital lobar emphysemas, and lesions of mixed pathology. Most congenital lung masses may be part of a spectrum of anomalies linked to obstruction of the developing fetal airway as an underlying component in their pathogenesis.
Kunisaki
Shaun M
SM
Department of Surgery, Children's Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Fauza
Dario O
DO
Nemes
Luanne P
LP
Barnewolt
Carol E
CE
Estroff
Judy A
JA
Kozakewich
Harry P
HP
Jennings
Russell W
RW
D000402:Airway Obstruction / Q000209:etiology; D005315:Fetal Diseases / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008171:Lung Diseases / Q000150:complications*; D011296:Prenatal Diagnosis; D018633:Pulmonary Atresia / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology*; D013902:Radiography, Thoracic; D012189:Retrospective Studies