The Annals of Thoracic Surgery, Vol 58, 565-567, Copyright © 1994 by The Society of Thoracic Surgeons
Deficiency of cartilage in the segmental bronchi of a child: congenital or acquired?
RJ Elfeldt, D Schmidt, J Thies, DW Schroder and P Seiffert
Department of General and Thoracic Surgery, University of Kiel, Germany.
The case of a 4-year-old girl suffering from a severe bronchopneumonia of
the left lower lobe is presented. Microscopically no cartilage was found in
the resected lobe distal to the lobar bronchus. The case is unusual because
a congenital lobar emphysema associated with an aplasia of bronchial
cartilage has to be considered as well as secondary cartilage destruction
due to chronic relapsing inflammations.