Lung volumes, mechanics, and perfusion after pulmonary resection in infancy

Partial pulmonary resection in early childhood is well tolerated. Although long-term outcome has been described in several follow-up studies, almost no information is available on postoperative lung perfusion. We studied 14 patients 3 to 20 years (mean, 11.6 years) after they underwent partial pulmonary resection at 1 week to 30 months of age (mean, 6.8 months). We examined development, pulmonary function, endurance, radiographs and ventilation-perfusion scans. We used predicted pulmonary function test values, which were corrected for the relative amount of lung removed and called predicted-corrected values. We hypothesized that the remaining lung would have altered ventilation-perfusion characteristics. We found no abnormalities in the patients' physical development. Most children had abnormal regional ventilation, but normal equilibration occurred; five patients had gas retention; all had decreased perfusion to the area of resection; nine patients showed ventilation-perfusion mismatch characterized by dead-space ventilation. Lung volumes were within the predicted range in 12 patients. Residual volume and functional residual capacity were larger than predicted-corrected values in most patients but residual volume in relation to total lung capacity was at or below normal in 6 of 11 and did not correlate with the amount of lung removed. Most patients had prolonged expiratory flows. We conclude that lung resection in early childhood leads to good functional recovery. However, decreased expiratory flows, regional ventilation abnormalities, and decreased perfusion suggest dysplastic parenchyma and vascular bed in the area of resection.