AIIMS Doctor perform congenital lung malformation rare surgery on 4-month child

Doctors at AIIMS Delhi have successfully performed a rare and technically demanding lung-preserving surgery on a four-month-old infant born with a congenital lung malformation affecting both lungs. The surgery was performed on the infant’s right lung, while another one on the left lung will be scheduled after a few months.

The procedure, a segment-level lung resection or segmentectomy in an infant, on one of the youngest patients is among the rarest reported cases of its kind and highlights the advanced paediatric surgical care available at the premier institute, said the hospital.

The child was discharged just two days after the operation.

The surgery was led by Professor Dr Vishesh Jain of the Department of Pediatric Surgery. The baby was diagnosed before birth with congenital pulmonary airway malformation (CPAM), a condition in which part of the lung develops abnormally during pregnancy, forming cyst-like tissue that cannot function like healthy lung tissue. Doctors said the case was particularly challenging because the malformation involved both lungs, unlike the more common presentation affecting only one lung.

Each lung is divided into smaller functional units called segments, each with its own airway and blood supply. While removal of an entire lobe is relatively straightforward, segmentectomy requires meticulous dissection of deeply placed blood vessels and airways while preserving the surrounding healthy lung tissue.

In this case, surgeons removed segments 9 and 10 of the lower lobe of the right lung, considered among the most technically difficult lung segments to access because of their deeply situated blood vessels, the hospital statement said.

“Segments 9 and 10 are among the most difficult to remove in the entire lung, since their vessels and airway are buried deep within the tissue, far from the surface. Performing this safely through keyhole surgery in an infant just four months old is a significant technical achievement,” Dr Sandeep Agarwala, Head, Department of Pediatric Surgery, AIIMS Delhi, said.