CTICasesLeft Pulmonary Agenesis
Imaging findings
A young child's chest radiograph shows an opacified left hemithorax with rib fusion anomalies. CT performed about a year later shows marked mediastinal shift with the heart displaced into the left hemithorax and a distended esophagus; the trachea bifurcates but only the branch supplying the right lung is identified, with no left mainstem bronchus present.
Key takeaways
Complete absence of a mainstem bronchus on the affected side, rather than a rudimentary bronchial stump, distinguishes true pulmonary agenesis from pulmonary aplasia, though the two are functionally similar; this isolated anomaly is compatible with normal development and long-term survival into adulthood, as demonstrated by this patient who was re-imaged as an adult.
AI-assisted summary — may contain errors. Verify against the source video. Learn more
More from this webinar
- Superior Accessory FissureCongenital
- Incidentally Discovered Small ThymomaNeoplastic
- Disseminated Coccidioidomycosis with CNS Vasculitis and Necrotizing Lung DestructionInfection
- Cavitary Cryptococcal Pneumonia in Autoimmune Hepatitis with CirrhosisInfection
- Type 1 Truncus Arteriosus with Right Aortic ArchCongenital
- Unicuspid Aortic Valve with Mixed Stenosis and RegurgitationCongenital
- Recall Radiation Pneumonitis in a Previously Irradiated Breast FieldILD
- Gemcitabine-Induced Organizing Pneumonia in a Prior Radiation FieldILD
See all cases from July 12, 2018 →
Related Congenital cases
- High-Flow Mediastinal Vascular Malformation
- Low-Flow (Venous) Mediastinal Vascular Malformation
- Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia with Mosaic Attenuation and Air Trapping
- Congenital Lobar Overinflation (Congenital Lobar Emphysema)
- Retroaortic (Circumaortic) Left Brachiocephalic Vein
- Tracheobronchomegaly (Mounier-Kuhn Syndrome)