Purpose: Infants born with congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) demonstrate a wide variability in postnatal catch-up lung growth. The goals of this study were to assess the pulmonary development of children born with CDH using sequential ventilation-perfusion (V/Q) scintigraphy and to identify the perinatal factors that correspond to a progressive V/Q mismatch.
Methods: The records of 137 patients seen between 1990 and 2005 in a multidisciplinary CDH clinic were reviewed. Changes in the ipsilateral V/Q quotient were compared in 46 patients who had 2 or more studies with the following variables: sex, patch repair, laterality, gestational age, and use of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. An abnormal V/Q quotient was defined as greater than 1.2 (reference range, 0.8-1.2).
Results: Abnormal V/Q scans were identified in 28 (61%) of the 46 patients at the time of the last V/Q study. Patients who underwent a patch repair had nearly 7 times the risk (P < .001) of developing an ipsilateral V/Q mismatch. The use of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation had a variable effect on the probability of an abnormal V/Q study finding. No other variable was significant.
Conclusions: Many children with CDH develop significant and progressive V/Q mismatches. Although some perinatal variables appear to be predictive of this phenomenon, they may simply be surrogates for a greater degree of pulmonary hypoplasia present at birth. This subpopulation of CDH survivors is an identifiable group clearly at risk and thus requires long-term follow-up.