title: Congenital lobar emphysema: Pitfalls in diagnosis.
abstract: Congenital lobar emphysema (CLE) is a rare but life-threatening congenital anomaly leading to respiratory distress in early childhood. Diagnosis requires a strong clinical suspicion. We report a case of a 31/2-month-old infant who was initially diagnosed with pneumonia requiring multiple hospital admissions. After computed tomography of the thorax, a diagnosis on CLE was made. The child was planned for surgery in the next available routine operation theatre. However, suddenly in the evening, she developed respiratory distress and needed emergency surgical intervention. The child improved dramatically after surgery, and the postoperative period was uneventful. Early diagnosis and treatment in such cases can lead to dramatic results.
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatric Surgery, Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Abhishek
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Chinya
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatric Surgery, Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Prince Raj
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Pandey
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatric Surgery, Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Shandip Kumar
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Sinha
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatric Surgery, Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Yogesh Kumar
authors.initials: YK
authors.lastname: Sarin
keywords: Congenital lobar emphysema; lobectomy; pneumonia