Successful percutaneous drainage of pneumatoceles in an extremely low-birthweight infant

Abstract

Pneumatoceles are thin-walled, air-filled cystic lesions developing within the lung parenchyma. It used to be a relatively common entity in the presurfactant era when preterm babies were ventilated at an unacceptably high positive pressure for respiratory distress syndrome. Pneumatocele formation is a very rare complication of pneumonia in neonates. We here report a case of extremely low-birthweight (ELBW) neonate who developed large bilateral pneumatoceles after staphylococcal pneumonia. Hereby, we present a case of an ELBW infant with bilateral massive pneumatoceles who underwent successful percutaneous catheter drainage to decompress these pneumatoceles.

Keywords: interventional radiology; neonatal intensive care; pneumonia (infectious disease); tropical medicine (infectious disease).