Diffusely anomalous pulmonary lymphatic drainage in children is seen in the neonatal period. It is referred to as lymphangiectasis and tends to be uniformly fatal soon after birth. It may be isolated or associated with cardiovascular malformations and, in particular, an anomalous pulmonary venous return. Occasionally, it may be part of a generalized lymphatic dysplasia affecting many sites.
Apparently primary but localized pulmonary lymphatic anomalies have been reported on rare occasions in adults. They have been called lymphangiomas or lymphangiectasis. Such lesions, to our knowledge, are exceptional in children, which makes the lesions unlikely to be included in the differential diagnosis of circumscribed cystic pulmonary lesions. This report proposes to document such a case and discuss its pathogenesis. Reading here
Case Report
A nine-year-old boy was admitted to St. Christophers Hospital for Children with the chief complaint of fever and hemoptysis. Born 12 weeks prematurely, he had required mechanical ventilation for the first three months of life and had developed necrotizing enterocolitis, which was treated surgically. At eight years of age, he was incidentally found to have a small infiltrate in his right lower lobe, but was lost to follow-up until he developed low-grade fever and hemoptysis a year later.