Evaluation of pulmonary function in children underwent to surgical treatment for CPAM

Congenital pulmonary airway malformation (CPAM) is a common pulmonary malformation usually surgically treated via thoracoscopy or thoracotomy. Some Authors advocate the need for early resection to get an advantage over lung growth and function.

The Authors of this retrospective study aimed to evaluate and compare the pulmonary function in patients who underwent thoracoscopic lobectomy for CPAM before and after 5 months of age.

Seventy patients (40 of which with CPAM) underwent thoracoscopic lobectomy between 2007 and 2014. Patients aged < 5 months were assigned to group 1, those aged > 5 months were assigned to group 2.

Pulmonary function tests (PFT) were requested for all the included patients; for those who could not undergo full PFT, the function residual capacity (FRC) was evaluated by the helium dilution technique.

Overall, 27 patients underwent PFT (group 1: 12 patients; group 2: 15 patients). Among them, 16 patients underwent full PFT and 11 patients had FRC measurement. FRC was similar in both groups (91% vs. 88.2%). FEV1 (83.9% vs. 86.4%), FVC (86.8% vs. 92.6%) and TLC (86.5% vs. 87.8%) were also similar between both groups. FEV1/FVC was slightly higher in group 1 (97.9% vs. 89.4%) but the difference was not statistically significant.

Based on the above results, the Authors concluded that surgical resection of CPAM can be performed safely early in life and that the age at surgery (before or after 5 months of age) doesn’t affect the long-term lung function.  

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Pio L, Jafar Y, Carvalho L, Ali L, Delcaux C, Julien-Marsollier F, Bonnard A. Thoracoscopic lobectomy for congenital pulmonary airway malformations before or after 5 months of age: evaluation of pulmonary function. Minerva Pediatr (Torino). 2023 May 22. doi: 10.23736/S2724-5276.23.07124-0.