[Differential diagnosis of a unilateral hyperlucent lung: the Swyer-James syndrome]

Lower respiratory infections in infancy caused lung emphysema in a 10-year old girl; being a locus minoris resistentiae the emphysema led to recurrent pulmonary complaints. This corresponds to the definition of the Swyer-James or McLeod Syndrome. The radiologic clue to the diagnosis is often the "unilateral hyperlucent lung", which is also found in many other childhood diseases. With our case we present an economical way of differentially diagnosing the unilateral hyperlucent lung, a way that is as little invasive as possible.