Congenital Lung Lesions Program at Texas Children’s Fetal Center

With continued advancements in prenatal ultrasounds, today many fetal lung lesions are being identified early on in pregnancy.

At Texas Children’s Fetal Center®, our Congenital Lung Lesion Program offers expert care for these babies from prenatal diagnosis to adulthood, coordinating your child’s care across a multidisciplinary team of maternal, fetal and pediatric specialists experienced in the diagnosis and treatment of these rare birth defects.

Through this combined expertise and unified approach, we offer:

• A single location for expert care of mother and baby, with highly coordinated treatment planning
• Treatment of congenital lung lesions at every stage of your child’s life, optimizing pulmonary health and neurodevelopmental outcomes

What are congenital lung lesions?

Lung lesions are abnormal growths of lung tissue that form during fetal development. Types of lung lesions include:

• Congenital pulmonary airway malformations (CPAM), the most common type of lung lesions. A CPAM may be a large cyst (macrocystic lesion) or it may be made up of many small cysts (microcystic lesion). CPAMs were previously called congenital cystic adenomatoid malformations (CCAM).
• Bronchopulmonary sequestration (BPS). These lung lesions are similar to CPAMs but include a blood vessel that comes directly from the aorta and feeds the lung mass.
• Congenital lobar emphysema. In this developmental anomaly, air can enter the lungs but can’t escape, causing the lobes of the lungs to become overinflated.

Fetal lung lesions can grow and change dramatically during pregnancy. At Texas Children’s Fetal Center®, we are equipped to address the full spectrum of these fetal birth defects, with unique expertise in even the most complex and challenging cases. With careful evaluation, close monitoring and specialized care, most babies with fetal lung lesions do very well.

Prenatal Diagnosis

CPAMs and other fetal lung lesions are often diagnosed before birth by ultrasound around 18-20 weeks. On ultrasound, the lesions may be solid or fluid filled. This is typically when most of our patients are referred to Texas Children’s Fetal Center®.

Your First Visit

Patients referred to our center undergo a comprehensive evaluation and detailed assessment of the fetal lung lesion and lung function, performed by specialists experienced in diagnosing and treating these rare birth defects. 

When you arrive for your evaluation, you will meet a nurse coordinator who will guide you through the process, answer any questions you may have, and provide a tour of our delivery unit and neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).

Your evaluation will include meetings with a:

• maternal-fetal medicine (MFM) specialist
• fetal interventionalist
• pediatric surgeon
• fetal imaging expert
• neonatologist
• genetics counselor
• social worker
• pulmonologist

Following a thorough assessment of the fetal mass and its impact on lung development and surrounding chest structures, our team of specialists will provide treatment