PRENATAL-DIAGNOSIS OF RIGHT LUNG AGENESIS USING COLOR DOPPLER AND MAGNETIC-RESONANCE-IMAGING

Unilateral lung agenesis should be suspected in fetuses presenting med iastinal shifting and absence of evidence of diaphragmatic hernia. Con firmation of diagnosis is not possible until birth as other more commo n lung anomalies may have a similar appearance, We present a case with right lung agenesis diagnosed at 34 weeks of gestation. Important for precise diagnosis was the color Doppler procedure, which revealed the absence of right pulmonary vessels. This is the first case in which u nilateral lung agenesis has been recognized prenatally by nonvisualiza tion of the corresponding lung vessels, The prenatally performed magne tic resonance sonography did not offer any advantages over sonography. Postnatally, the diagnosis was confirmed, and sinus venosus defect wa s also found. To prevent recurrent cardiopulmonary crisis, which could be caused by mediastinal shift, a tissue expander was implanted succe ssfully at 3 months of age.