Development in lung function of the affected side after repair of congenital diaphragmatic hernia.

The widespread use of newly developed techniques including extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) has led to the survival of a number of patients with congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) and associated hypoplastic lung. However, it is not fully recognized whether the hypoplastic and small lung of the affected side has the ability to develop its function after repair of CDH. The authors studied the lung function of 32 patients with CDH in whom these new methods were used. Two parameters, lung volume and pulmonary perfusion amount, were used to evaluate lung function. The former (checked by computed tomography scan) was used to evaluate the size of lung; the latter (checked by perfusion scintigram) was used to assess vascular density. The patients were divided into two groups, based on values of alveolar-arterial difference in oxygen content (AaDo2) at the time of admission. In group A (AaDo2 < 500 mm Hg; 12 cases), whose respiratory distress was mild and could be managed with ventilator care alone, the mean lung volume value for the affected side was 86% of the contralateral lung value from the initial study, and reached 93% at the time of follow-up study. The perfusion amount also exceeded 80% of the contralateral lung value from the initial study. Thus, it is likely that group A's affected-side lung is not small and has developed at a rate similar to that of the contralateral lung. However, in group B patients (AaDo2 > 500 mm Hg; 20 cases), who had severe respiratory distress at the admission and were managed with new techniques including ECMO, both lung volume and perfusion amount of the affected side initially were low in all cases (ie, mean values were 61% and 53% of contralateral-lung values, respectively). At the time of follow-up, the lung volume had increased in most cases (mean value, 88% of the contralateral lung value), but the perfusion amount of the affected side had not increased in most cases. It remained low, or decreased to below the initial value; the mean was 53% of the contralateral lung value. The initial mean perfusion: volume ratio (87%) had decreased significantly (to 62%) by the time of follow-up. This tendency was exaggerated in the 11 ECMO cases. These data might indicate that in most group B cases, the lung of the affected side has little ability to develop arterial branches, or certainly will be delayed in comparison to the contralateral lung, and that enlargement of lung volume may depend on overexpansion or emphysematous change rather than cellular growth. The present data also suggest that, in group B cases, total lung function will depend on the contralateral lung for a relatively long time.