Lung resections in bronchiectasis due to lipoid pneumonia: a custom-design approach.

OBJECTIVE

To see the effect of "custom-designed" surgical resection of some severely damaged parts of the lungs in children with bronchiectasis caused by forced feeding of children early in their lives with animal fat "ghee".

DESIGN

All children with bronchiectasis--post lipoid pneumonia--who failed to respond to medical treatment had surgical removal of most affected parts of their lungs.

SETTINGS: Asir Central Hospital Abha, a referral hospital in Asir region of Saudi Arabia and a Teaching Hospital for College of Medicine and Health Sciences, King Khalid University, Saudi Arabia.

SUBJECTS: Six children aged between seven and 12 years with lipoid bronchiectasis were referred to paediatric surgical service for surgical treatment.

RESULTS

There was no surgical mortality. Apart from mild cough, all the pre-operative symptoms of the children disappeared. Two children died more than six months post-operatively due to the extent of the original disease.

CONCLUSION

Surgical resection designed to remove the most affected parts of the lungs in diffuse-type bronchiectasis is recommended when there is failure of medical treatment.