Abstract

VASQUEZ ROMERO, Rosario del Carmen et al. Computerized axial tomography in the diagnosis of a right tracheal bronchus and patent ductus arteriosus in a patient with an asthma-like syndrome. Rev. Inst. Nal. Enf. Resp. Mex. [online]. 2005, vol.18, n.1, pp.43-47. ISSN 0187-7585.

A 12 year old male had symptoms suggesting asthma since the third month of age; he was managed with inhaled steroids and bronchodilatadors and specific immunotherapy for 18 months, without improvement. Conventional computed tomography (CT) showed tracheai narrowing and a bronchi emerging from the right lateral wall of the trachea, separating the right upper lobe from the tracheobronchial tree. The CT also revealed a patent ductus arteriosus and an anatomic variant of the liver. Helical CT scans, virtual bronchoscopy, cardiac catherization and bronchoscopy confirmed the diagnoses. In this case, Fallot's tetralogy, the commonest cardiac anomaly associated with tracheai bronchi to the right upper lobe, was not found. Symptoms improved after surgical division of the patent ductus arteriosus

Keywords : Fallot's tetralogy; multiplanar reconstructions; patent ductus arteriosus; tracheai bronchi; virtual bronchoscopy.