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Lobectomy or other lung surgeries?

My son was born at 35 weeks and is now 3 weeks old. When he was born he had difficulties breathing and had to have a ventilator then CPAP and finally room air. While be was on the CPAP he developed a pnemothorax and and also required a dose of surfactant. He's breathing better now but still pulling alittle hard so they did several chest xrays to check his lungs and then a CT scan to get a better look. He's been diagnosed with congenital lobar emphysema and they have decided that he will require surgery sometime in the first year(likely the first 3-6 months) to remove the upper affected lobe. They have mentioned if his stats look worse they will do the surgery immdiately.He is also having trouble eating his whole feed from the bottle so has a feeding tube through his nose. They have mentioned doing a surgery to install a G tube but arent positive about it at the time. Has anyone had experience with lung surgeries? I haven't been albe to talk to the surgeon just my sons doctor so I have no idea what to really expect with the procedure or recovery. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

2 Answers

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  • 7 years ago
    Favorite Answer

    Ask three different pediatric surgeons

    Source(s): Someone who is not a pediatric surgeon
  • D
    Lv 7
    7 years ago

    I am so sorry you are going through this. What a difficult journey. Here is an article about lobectomy that will give you some general information: http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/healthlibrary/test_...

    That page is not specific to infants but gives you some basics of the procedure.

    Here is a blog post that may help, from a family that had an emergency lobectomy for their son: http://congenitallobaremphysema.blogspot.com/2012/...

    It is important to remember that infants can heal in ways that adults can not. If you take a lobe out of an adult, it is gone forever. If you take one out of a newborn, it can grow back. Babies have almost magical healing abilities.

    Good luck. Of course you need to talk with the surgeons and get the specifics for your son, but I hope these links will offer a little help in the meantime.

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