Pulmonary sublobar resections in children with congenital cystic adenomatoid malformations

Background: In this study, we aimed to evaluate the outcomes of pulmonary sublobar resections performed for congenital cystic adenomatoid malformations (CCAM) in pediatric patients. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 20 children (11 boys, 9 girls; mean age 5.48 years; range 39 days to 18 years) who underwent surgery for CCAM in our clinic between January 1999 and December 2012. Eleven patients had lobectomies (group 1), and nine patients had sublobar resections of whom six underwent thoracoscopic resections and three underwent open segmentectomy (group 2). Data were collected regarding age, sex, pathological diagnosis, location of lesion, surgical procedure, size of the lesion, chest tube duration, length of hospital stay, and postoperative complications. Results: Although there was no statistically significant difference in the demographics between the two groups undergoing lobar and sublobar resection, the chest tube duration (5.3±0.5 days vs 3.6±1.9 days) and the length of hospital stay (7.5±0.7 vs 4.8±2.2 days) were significantly shorter in the sublobar resection group (p<0.05). Conclusion: In our experience, both lobar and sublobar resections have similar clinical outcomes. Sublobar resections can be, therefore, easily performed thoracoscopically and can be safely applied to pediatric patients with CCAM.