THE ASSOCIATION OF COMPLETE LARYNGOTRACHEOESOPHAGEAL CLEFT WITH LEFT LUNG AGENESIS - PATHOPHYSIOLOGICAL CLUES PROVIDED BY AN EXPERIMENT OF NATURE

The authors present a patient with complete laryngotracheoesophageal c left and concurrent left lung agenesis and microgastria. Prenatal ultr asound scan showed polyhydramnios and a hypertrophic right lung. The a uthors propose that the combination of right lung hypertrophy, polyhyd ramnios, and microgastria in the absence of a competent laryngeal mech anism may suggest that the preferential path for swallowed amniotic fl uid was into the lung, rather than the normal route through the stomac h. This case illustrates the prenatal findings suggestive of complete laryngotracheoesophageal cleft and lung agenesis, and suggests a poten tial causal relationship between shunting of swallowed amniotic fluid into the bronchial tree and prenatal lung hypertrophy and microgastria . Copyright (C) 1998 by W.B. Saunders Company.