Case Report
Half a Breath: Radiologic Diagnosis of Pulmonary Aplasia in a Newborn
Swizzel Pereira* and De Sequeira Fernandes VMY
Department of Radiodiagnosis, Goa Medical College, Goa, India.
*Corresponding author:Dr. Swizzel Pereira, Department of Radiodiagnosis, Goa Medical College, Goa, India. E-mail id: swizzelpereira21@gmail.com
Copyright: ©2026 Pereira S, et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Article Information:Submission: 18/04/2026; Accepted: 19/05/2026; Published: 23/05/2026
Abstract
Pulmonary aplasia is an extremely rare congenital anomaly characterized by the complete absence of unilateral lung parenchyma and vasculature, with a rudimentary, blind ending bronchus. In this case report, we present the clinical and radiological findings of a 1-day-old male neonate with respiratory distress since birth. Chest radiograph
revealed mediastinal shift towards the left side with hyperinflation of the right lung. Contrast-enhanced CT scan revealed the absence of the left lung, left pulmonary vessels, with a rudimentary, blind ending left main bronchus with marked ipsilateral cardio-mediastinal shift.
Keywords:Unilateral lung; Lung aplasia; Lung agenesis; Rudimentary bronchus