Thoracoscopic surgery for symptomatic congenital lung malformations in neonates: A retrospective study of 36 cases

Objective: To summarize and analyse the efficacy of minimally invasive thoracoscopic surgery for neonatal symptomatic congenital lung malformations (CLMs). Methods: The clinical data of 36 newborns (aged <=28 days) with symptomatic CLMs who underwent thoracoscopic surgery at Foshan Women and Children’s Hospital from April 2017 to May 2023 were retrospectively analysed. Results: Among the 36 patients, 33 had neonatal pneumonia before the operation, 8 had tachypnea with or without respiratory distress at birth, 3 had weak breathing and cyanosis requiring assisted ventilation and 1 had mediastinal displacement due to large lung lesions. Lobectomy was performed in 6 CPAM patients and 7 patients with extralobar sequestration, and lung-sparing resection was performed in 13 CPAM patients and 10 patients with intralobar sequestration. The median surgical incision length was 1.4 cm (1.3–6.0 cm), the median operative blood loss was 2 ml (1–20 ml), and the median operative time was 132 min (33–220 min). Conclusion: Thoracoscopic surgery for symptomatic CLMs can achieve good clinical results in neonates, and lung-sparing resection may be feasible.