Minimally Invasive Surgery

Lung Lesions

Signs and Symptoms
Diagnosis
Treatment

Diagnosis

A CCAM is usually diagnosed before birth by ultrasound, a process that uses sound waves to create an image of the fetus, which will show an "echogenic" or bright mass in the fetus' chest. The size of the mass varies with each fetus. Other ultrasound findings may show displacement of the heart from its normal position, flat or "everted," pushed downward, diaphragms or the absence of visible lung tissue.

In our experience, pregnancies complicated by a CCAM follow one of three courses:

1. The mass may grow in the chest, often to a huge size, but by about 28 weeks' gestation, the fetus has a rapid period of growth and may "outgrow" the mass. The CCAM may remain the same size, but compared to the size of the chest of the fetus, it is smaller.
2. The CCAM may shrink. For some unknown reason, possibly maturing cells, the CCAM begins to disappear in the third trimester of the pregnancy.
3. For a minority, the CCAM can be life threatening. The fetus may have abdominal ascites (fluid in the abdomen), pleural or pericardial effusions (excess fluid around the heart or lung), skin or scalp edema (excess fluid under the skin or scalp), polyhydramnios (too much amniotic fluid), or a slightly thickened placenta.

Reviewed by health care specialists at UCSF Children's Hospital.
Last updated January 15, 2008