Bronchopulmonary Sequestration (BPS) – What It Means for You and Your Baby
Overview
Bronchopulmonary sequestration (BPS) is a rare lung condition where a small part of the baby’s lung forms abnormally and doesn’t connect to the rest of the lung. Because it’s not connected, this piece of lung can’t help with breathing and gets its blood supply from the wrong place.
BPS is usually found during a routine prenatal ultrasound. It shows up as a bright or solid-looking area, often in the lower left side of the baby’s chest.
Is It Dangerous?
In most cases, BPS is small and doesn’t cause problems. But in rare situations, the mass can grow large enough to:
- Push on the baby’s normal lung and prevent it from developing properly
- Put pressure on the heart and blood vessels
- Lead to heart failure and fluid buildup in the baby’s body (hydrops), which can be life-threatening
When Is Treatment Needed?
If the BPS starts to cause heart failure or fluid buildup, doctors may recommend fetal treatment.
This involves:
- Using a tiny laser or injection (sclerotherapy) to block the abnormal blood vessels feeding the BPS
This stops the BPS from growing and usually leads to improvement within a few weeks
Bronchopulmonary sequestration (BPS), or pulmonary sequestration, is a condition in which one section of lung does not communicate with the normal lung tissue. Because the BPS is not connected to the normal lung, the BPS does not function in respiration (breathing). The blood supply of a BPS does not arise from the pulmonary blood supply.
BPS can be detected in a fetus by prenatal ultrasound. The lesion appears as an echogenic (bright) lobar or triangular shaped mass. It is usually seen in the lower left chest. Rarely a BPS can become relatively large and act as a space-occupying lesion within the fetal chest. This can result in underdevelopment of the lung tissue and lethal pulmonary hypoplasia, as well as compression of cardiovascular structures and eventual fetal hydrops (heart failure) and death.
Fetal treatment is indicated in cases of BPS complicated with hydrops (heart failure). In these cases, the feeding vessels that feed the BPS can be targeted and occluded via laser energy or sclerotherapy. The hydrops fetalis usually resolves in three to four weeks.