Zhang SX, et al. - Researchers, herein, focused on the diagnosis, treatment, and outcomes of pulmonary sequestration (PS). Surgical resection was reported as the major treatment approach for PS and enhanced computed tomography (CT) or CT angiography (CTA) was suggested to be a potential approach for the diagnosis of PS. In case of a small-sized pulmonary lesion, endovascular embolization of PS could be considered. In addition, they found that endovascular exclusion could be used to treat combined arterial aneurysm and dissection of PS.

Methods

• Researchers performed a retrospective review of 28 patients with PS who were treated with surgery (21 cases) or endovascular intervention (7 cases) between May 2005 and June 2016 from a single institute.
• Age, sex, clinical symptoms, diagnostic methods, operative techniques, and treatment outcomes were analyzed in all patients.

Results

• A total of 28 patients underwent operative intervention for PS, including 15 male and 13 female, with a median age of 42.5.
• Preoperative symptoms including cough, expectoration, hemoptysis, chest and/or back pain, and fever were observed in 21 patients.
• The methods used for the diagnosis included general chest computed tomography (CT) scanning; percutaneous needle biopsy, bronchoscopy, enhanced CT scanning, and CT angiography (CTA).
• Using enhanced CT scanning and CTA, 21 patients were diagnosed preoperatively; 7 patients were confirmed by surgery.
• Findings demonstrated that surgery was performed on 21 patients (15 cases had thoracotomy and 6 cases had video-assisted thoracic surgery), and interventional therapy was given to 7 patients (3 cases via endovascular embolization and 4 cases via thoracic aortic endovascular stent-graft exclusion).
• In surgery group, a complication was reported in 3 patients (intraoperative hemorrhage in 2 patients and postoperative hydropneumothorax in 1 patient) and in interventional group, 2 patients had post-embolization syndrome (fever and pain at embolism site).
• In addition, researchers observed that both groups had neither recurrences nor further complications during the follow-up period ranging from 6 to 84 months.