Surgical treatment of pulmonary aspergilloma in pediatric patients: report of 3 cases.

OBJECTIVE

To describe our experience in the surgical management of pulmonary aspergilloma (PA) and review surgery's role in PA treatment in pediatric patients.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

A descriptive study of patients diagnosed with PA undergoing surgical resection from 2017 to 2019 was carried out. A review of pediatric studies mentioning "aspergilloma", "surgical", and "treatment" was performed.

RESULTS

During the study period, 3 patients with single PA aged 18 months old, 3 years old, and 13 years old underwent surgery. All of them had leukemia and little or no response to aspergilloma medical treatment. In all patients, the procedure was initiated using the thoracoscopic route, but conversion into thoracotomy was required in two cases. In all three cases, pulmonary segmentectomy was carried out with complete PA removal, without severe intraoperative or postoperative complications. No pulmonary recurrence was observed after 30-, 34-, and 16-month follow-up, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

PA surgical resection is a feasible alternative in pediatric patients with a poor antifungal treatment response or related complications.