A 15-year-old female who was treated for a giant emphysematous pulmonary cyst : report of a case

Abstract

We describe a case of a 15-year--old female a giant emphysematous pulmonary cyst. From infancy, she had experienced shortness of breath during walking. Her chest X-ray films and CT showed a right giant emphysematous pulmonary cyst and a deviation of the mediastinum to the left. Arteriogram of the chest showed a deviation of the right pulmonary arteries and the pulmonary ventilation and perfusion scintigram showed little function in the right lung. Operation was done on June 28, 1997. We could see that the right lung was highly collapsed with multiple bullae present in the right upper and middle lobes. The giant emphysematous pulmonary cyst was located in the right upper lobe. We performed right pneumonectomy because the right lung function was impaired. We speculate after pathological examination that there had been a emphysematous pulmonary disease in this case from infancy.