Abstract
Congenital Lobar Emphysema (CLE) is a rare and life-threatening
congenital lung anomaly that often poses a diagnostic dilemma. The
problem can be further augmented with co-existent Congenital Heart
Defect (CHD) with the left to right shunts. The clinical presentation of
congenital heart defects in infantile life is quite similar to the CLE,
and CHD being more common gets detected early. The presence of
underlying CLE may only be suspected after the repair of the CHD. In our
case, a 2-month-old patient presented with respiratory distress, and on
evaluation large Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD) and Patent Ductus
Arteriosus (PDA) were detected. After the successful repair of the
cardiac defects, the infant continued to have cough, respiratory
distress, and failure to thrive. Then on radiological re-analysis CLE
was suspected on X-ray, and confirmed by Computed Tomography (CT). CLE
can get detected on an X-ray chest, but it is often confusing and
misleading at an early stage.