Pediatric Pulmonary Herniation

  • Etiology: Chest wall defect caused by rib fracture or prior surgery
  • Imaging:
    — Pleura covered lung extrudes through chest wall defect
    — Lung extrusion increases with positive presssure ventilation
  • DDX:
  • Complications:
  • Treatment: Fix chest wall defect
  • Clinical: Cervical lung herniation is relatively common in children and rarely symptomatic

Radiology Cases of Pulmonary Herniation

CXR of pulmonary herniation
CXR AP in inspiration (above) shows the left 5th intercostal space at the side of the previous thoracotomy to be deformed. CXR AP in expiration (below) shows interval development of a cystic structure in the soft tissues of the left chest wall.