Abstract
A 39-year-old, previously healthy man was referred to our department for detailed examinations because of recurrent bouts of pneumonia in the same area of the right middle lung field. Multi-detector row computed tomography (MDCT) of the chest revealed dilatation of the atretic bronchus at the level of segmental bronchus issuing from the basilar truncus and the surrounding emphysematous lung in the region between superior (S6) and basilar segments. This case was diagnosed as congenital bronchial atresia associated with interruption of the subsuperior bronchus (B*) because the bronchial tree was entirely normal. In addition, this case had a deep aberrant pulmonary fissure, that had been described as “posterior pulmonary lobe (PPL)” by Mawatari et al, between subsuperior (S*) and basilar segments. The patient underwent superior and subsuperior segmentectomy via video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS). We experienced an extremely rare case of congenital bronchial atresia associated with interruption of B* and an aberrant pulmonary fissure. MDCT was useful for a proper understanding of anatomical features that led to the precise diagnosis and the successful surgical procedure.
