Pediatric pulmonary resections: indications, surgical approaches, and outcomes in a 15-year single-center experience.

Abstract

Pediatric pulmonary resections are performed for a wide spectrum of congenital, infectious, and neoplastic diseases; however, clinical outcomes and surgical approaches remain subjects of ongoing evaluation. To evaluate the indications, surgical techniques, and clinical outcomes of pediatric pulmonary resections. A retrospective, single-center case series. Medical records of 41 pulmonary resection procedures performed in pediatric patients were reviewed retrospectively. Data on demographic characteristics, type of resection, laterality, pathological diagnoses, and postoperative outcomes were analyzed. Wedge resection was the most frequently performed procedure (75.6%), while bullous emphysema was the most common pathological diagnosis (51.2%). Of all resection procedures, 86.1% were associated with benign and 13.9% with malignant conditions. No major postoperative complications and no 90-day mortality were documented in the reviewed records. During follow-up, three patients died, all of whom had malignant diagnoses. In this retrospective single-center mixed-pathology case series, pediatric pulmonary resections were associated with favorable observed perioperative outcomes, with no documented major postoperative complications or 90-day mortality. Operative strategy was individualized according to lesion type, extent, and surgical feasibility, while follow-up deaths were confined to patients with malignant diagnoses.