Minimally Invasive Surgery

Lung Lesions

Signs and Symptoms
Diagnosis
Treatment

Treatment

Treatment options are surgery before birth, for a select group of patients; surgery soon after birth or surgery several months after birth, depending on the severity of the CCAM. Most infants born with a CCAM have no symptoms at birth although an occasional infant may have difficulty breathing, require oxygen and use of a machine called a ventilator to help with breathing.

Infants with no symptoms at birth can go home after a few days in the hospital and return at three months of age for a CT scan. An operation to remove the CCAM may be scheduled after a radiologist, a physician trained to read X-rays, and the pediatric surgeon, review the results. CCAM removal is generally recommended because of the risk of lung infections and cancerous transformation later in life.

In most infants, the operation is done with tiny telescopic instruments though several very small incisions, instead of a single large chest incision. Your baby will stay in the hospital two to three days but probably will be released as soon as he or she is breathing easily, takes formula or breast milk well and is comfortable on pain medication given orally. Only the most severely affected fetuses may be candidates for fetal intervention.

Fetal intervention is offered only when there is evidence of heart failure in the fetus. The procedure involves an operation for the mother, which is like a Caesarean section.

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