Bilateral cystic adenomatoid lung malformation type III – a rare differential diagnosis of pulmonary hypertension in neonates

Abstract Congenital cystic adenomatoid lung malformation (CCAM) is a rare disorder characterized by replacement of normal pulmonary tissue with cysts of variable size and distribution. Only sporadic cases of CCAM type III have been described that were stillborn or died in the early neonatal period. To our best knowledge we report the first infant with bilateral CCAM type III that was not ventilator-dependent for the first 10 weeks of life and survived until the age of 5 months. Postnatally the newborn presented with signs of only mild respiratory distress and chest radiograph did not show evidence of cystic lesions. In the following weeks the major clinical symptom was persistent pulmonary hypertension with severe tachypnea, O2 requirement and CO2 retention. Pulmonary hypertension did not respond to HFOV ventilation, NO ventilation or prostacyclin inhalations. Conclusions: (1) Persistent pulmonary hypertension can be a major clinical feature in neonates with bilateral CCAM type III. (2) A normal chest X-ray does not exclude the possibility of bilateral type III CCAM. (3) Computerized tomography appears to be superior to conventional chest X-ray imaging in detection of small cystic lesions in infants with CCAM type III. (4) In cases of prenatally suspected CCAM type III, parents should be informed that short-term survival is possible.