Etiological basis of some chronic chest problems of obscure nature in infants and children

ABSTRACT

Patients with chronic chest problems where no specific diagnosis has been made by non-invasive methods present a diagnostic problem. In this work, 17 patients with chronic chest problems of obscure nature had been studied. Computed tomography delineated the nature of both the bronchogenic and post-traumatic lung cysts while lung biopsy proved useful in the diagnosis of pulmonary hemosiderosis, congenital bronchiectasis, as well as the miliary shadows in the case of miliary T.B. Chest X-ray with barium swallow revealed indentation and kinking of the esophagus by the aberrant left subclavian artery in the cases of Dysphagia lusoria which was subsequently confirmed by echocardiography. Echocardiography also elicited dilated cardiomyopathy and mitral regurge in another case while immunological deficiency syndromes were detected in four cases after thorough immunological study