Preoperative percutaneous catheter drainage for symptomatic macrocystic congenital pulmonary airway malformation: A case report

Infants with congenital pulmonary airway malformation (CPAM) are generally asymptomatic and the surgical treatment can be planned using a thoracoscopic technique. We report the case of a newborn with a large type 1 CPAM who presented with severe respiratory distress and was treated with percutaneous transthoracic drainage before open surgery. A full-term male patient was born via vaginal delivery. Antenatal imaging had raised suspicion of type 1 CPAM in the right lung. At birth, he was admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) due to ventilatory insufficiency and oxygen dependence. A chest X-ray confirmed the antenatal diagnosis of a large type 1 CPAM. On the first days of life (DOL), we inserted a percutaneous transthoracic chest tube to drain the large cyst and initiated high-frequency oscillatory ventilation (HFOV). Although the patient initially showed clinical improvement, his condition subsequently deteriorated. Suspecting tube dislocation, on the seventh DOL a second drainage was placed in the cyst. On the tenth DOL, given the persistent clinical severity, a right upper lobectomy was performed. Postoperatively, the patient was supported by conventional ventilation with a reduced oxygen requirement. On the thirteenth DOL, the infant was successfully extubated. Histological analysis confirmed the diagnosis of type 1 CPAM. After nearly a month, the infant was transferred to the pediatric surgery ward and later discharged. During multidisciplinary follow-up, the patient maintained good general health with no signs of recurrence. In newborns with large, symptomatic type-1 CPAMs a percutaneous catheter drainage can be used as a temporizing measure before the definitive surgical resection.