Thoracoscopic segmentectomy for a large previously undiagnosed CPAM presenting as a spontaneous pneumothorax: A case...

Incidentally found congenital pulmonary airway malformations (CPAM) in older children are extremely rare and have traditionally been managed with minimally invasive versus open lobectomy of the affected lobe.

In this report, we present a 11-year-old male who presented with a recurrent spontaneous pneumothorax and was found to have a large symptomatic CPAM confined to a single segment of the right lower lobe. The patient was successfully treated with thoracoscopic segmentectomy without any residual disease seen on follow up imaging.

Minimally invasive thoracoscopic approach has many advantages over open approach including better pain control, reduced hospital length of stay, and decreased intraoperative blood loss. With increasing use of minimally invasive approaches, lung-sparing surgery has demonstrated to be a viable and an attractive option for definitive resection of CPAM, without compromising resection margins and/or future lung function.

This report demonstrates that minimally invasive lung-sparing surgical treatment of a large CPAM is feasible in older children.