Abstract
We reported a rare case of extralobar pulmonary sequestration (EPS) with hydrothorax. At 34 weeks gestation, EPS was recognized as a homogeneous mass above the left diaphragm, and coexisting remarkable pleural effusion was clarified by ultrasonography. Immediately after delivery (35 weeks and 1 day gestation), an endotracheal tube was inserted because of severe respiratory distress, and close thoracotomy was performed to drain pleural effusion in the left chest cavity. Approximately 75 ml of pleural effusion was drained daily. After 3 weeks of respiratory intensive care the patient's condition was stabilized. Then a left thoracotomy was performed, when EPS was found. The pleural effusion disappeared soon after the resection of EPS and the postoperative course was uneventful. Association of EPS and pleural effusion is rare, as we could find only 20 reported cases whose prognosis was poor. All the patients having hydrops fetalis at birth could not survive. And coexisting hypoplasia of the lung, which might be induced by direct compression of pleural effusion, was the most frequent cause of the death in the perinatal period. When these risk facters were evaluated in this case, our patient survived because he had neither hydrops fetalis nor hypoplasia of the lung at birth.
