Postoperative regional distribution of pulmonary ventilation and perfusion in infants with congenital diaphragmatic hernia

Advances in management of patients with congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) have improved mortality rates but with a risk of increased pulmonary morbidity. The prognosis for CDH survivors remains difficult to predict owing to the lack of adequate methods. We used single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) to measure the regional distribution of ventilation and perfusion in CDH infants to quantify the degree of lung function impairment and relate it to neonatal clinical disease severity.

Single photon emission computed tomography was performed in 12 CDH infants at the mean age of six months. Ventilation and perfusion were traced with 5 MBq Technegas and technetium-labelled albumin macro-aggregates, respectively. Neonatal clinical data collected during the patient's stay in the pediatric intensive care unit was correlated with the SPECT data.

Single photon emission computed tomography revealed varying degrees of ventilation-perfusion abnormalities which correlated with the presence of pulmonary artery hypertension, days on ventilator and days on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation.

The grade of clinical disease severity in infants following CDH repair is closely related to the ventilation-perfusion abnormality as seen using SPECT. The persistence of pulmonary artery hypertension into the postoperative neonatal period appears to be an important pathophysiological factor related to ventilation-perfusion abnormalities. Single photon emission computed tomography provides valuable clinical information for patient follow-up.