Diagnosis and surgical treatment of pulmonary sequestration.

BACKGROUND: Pulmonary sequestration is the term used to describe a rare embryonic mass of lung tissue which has no bronchial communication with the normal tracheobronchial tree.

METHODS: In this study, we reviewed the medical records of 14 patients who underwent surgical resection for pulmonary sequestration between January 1992 and December 2006.

RESULTS: Nine patients were symptomatic with recurrent respiratory tract infections and five patients were asymptomatic with a suspected lesion revealed incidentally during imaging investigations for other indications. Pulmonary sequestration was diagnosed with preoperative diagnostic procedures in eight patients and the other six cases were diagnosed after histopathological examination of the resected specimen. All patients were treated surgically. No postoperative complications were observed.

CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that the optimal treatment of pulmonary sequestration is surgical resection to avoid infection and destruction of the normal pulmonary parenchyma, even in asymptomatic cases. Moreover, in the case of pulmonary infection and the destruction of normal tissue, major resection such as lobectomy or pneumonectomy may be considered, instead of limited resection.