African Journal of Paediatric Surgery (Jan 2008)
Right lung agenesis
Abstract
Congenital pulmonary agenesis or aplasia is extremely rare. Although more than fifty percent of patients die before first five years of age, some individuals may remain asymptomatic throughout their life. A three-month-old female child with right pulmonary agenesis presented to us with severe respiratory distress. She was misdiagnosed as a case of foreign body bronchus at the peripheral health centre. Bronchoscopy confirmed the diagnosis and relieved the symptoms. It is recommended that invasive diagnostic procedures and prophylactic surgery should not be done in asymptomatic cases.