Congenital lobar emphysema. Report of 17 cases.
The aim of this report is to determine frequency and clinical characteristics of Congenital lobar emphysema (CLE) at Children's Hospital of Tunis.


METHODS
Cases of CLE managed between January the 1st 1994 until December the 31st 2004 were reviewed.


RESULTS
Amongst 31 cases of cystic pulmonary malformations we report 17 CLE. They were 12 males and 5 females. The mean age at diagnosis was 41/2 months (20 days, 22 months). Symptoms were: progressive respiratory distress (n=11) recurrent attacks of dyspnea (n=5); pulmonary infection (n=1). Chest X ray and CT scans showed hyper aeration of the affected lobes. Three patients had two affected lobes. CLE was associated to bronchogenic cyst (n=2) and to congenital cardiac anomalies (n=3). All patients underwent lobectomy. Post operative course was uneventful in 16 children.


CONCLUSIONS
CLE is an uncommon cause of respiratory distress in neonates and infants. CLE is the most common cystic pulmonary malformation in our institution.
Khemiri
Monia
M
Service Médecine Infantile A, Hôpital d'enfants Tunis.
Khaldi
Faouzia
F
Ben Becher
Saayda
S
Chaouachi
Beji
B
Houissa
Taoufik
T
Barsaoui
Siham
S
D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D011656:Pulmonary Emphysema / Q000151:congenital* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D012189:Retrospective Studies