[Pulmonary sequestration detected by ultrasound]

Pulmonary sequestration is part of the spectrum of bronchopulmonary foregut anomaly. It is a rare type of congenital malformation in which a mass of pulmonary tissue is separate from the normal lung and receives its arterial supply directly from the systemic circulation. Angiographic demonstration of a systemic artery leading to the sequestrated lung has usually been used to diagnose this condition. In the past 10 years cases of this rare anomaly have been detected and diagnosed by ultrasonography in the pre- and postnatal period. We describe a very rare case of intraabdominal, extralobar pulmonary sequestration detected in the antenatal period. Ultrasonography showed a hyperechoic subdiaphragmatic mass above the left kidney, near the aorta. In the mass were 2 echo-free vascular structures. 2 arterial branches originating from the abdominal aorta which traversed the subdiaphragmatic mass. The near-diaphragmatic location of many pulmonary sequestrations provides an excellent acoustic window for sonographic detection. MRI can help in the diagnosis when ultrasonographic findings are equivocal. Ultrasound and MRI will soon replace aortic angiography in the diagnosis of this condition in the pre- and postnatal period, pulmonary sequestration should be included in the differential diagnosis of upper abdominal masses identified by ultrasonography.