Lung Function of Infants with Congenital Lung Lesions in the First Year of Life

Background: Several studies have evaluated short-term neonatal outcome in infants with congenital lung lesions (CLL) but clinical course and lung function in the longer term have not yet been documented. We hypothesized that clinical course and lung function would be negatively affected by surgical resection. Objective: To evaluate respiratory symptoms and lung function longitudinally in the first year of life in infants with CLL, and to analyse differences herein between infants managed by observation only and infants whose affected lung parts were resected. Methods: We evaluated respiratory symptoms and lung function at 6 and 12 months in 30 patients with CLL. Functional residual capacity (FRCp) and maximal expiratory flow at functional residual capacity (V'maxFRC) were measured with body plethysmography. SD scores were calculated for V'maxFRC. Results: Prevalence of respiratory symptoms did not differ between the groups. Mean FRCp (95% CI) was 25.3 (23.3-27.3) in the group managed by observation versus 27.3 (25.1-29.6) in the group managed by surgery (p = 0.149). Mean (95% CI) SDS V'maxFRC was -1.45 (-1.84 to -1.06) versus -1.41 (-1.90 to -0.91) (p = 0.892). Lung function did not change significantly over the 6-month period. Conclusion: Surgical resection did not seem to have negatively affected the clinical course and lung function. We recommend pulmonary follow-up of all CLL patients into adulthood to further identify any long-term effects of CLL and observation or surgery. Copyright (C) 2012 S. Karger AG, Basel