Is horseshoe lung a component of VACTERL spectrum? Case report and review of literature

Carmen Cerron-Vela; Fouad Youssef; Kyle N Cowan; Jorge Davila

doi:10.1016/j.radcr.2022.02.014

Is horseshoe lung a component of VACTERL spectrum? Case report and review of literature

Radiol Case Rep. 2022 Mar 8;17(5):1558-1562. doi: 10.1016/j.radcr.2022.02.014. eCollection 2022 May.

Authors

Carmen Cerron-Vela¹, Fouad Youssef^{2

3}, Kyle N Cowan^{4

3}, Jorge Davila¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Medical Imaging, Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
² Molecular Biomedicine Program, Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
³ Department of Surgery, Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
⁴ Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

Abstract

Horseshoe lung (HL) is a rare congenital anomaly that has been classically associated with Scimitar syndrome. Very few cases have been described in the context of the VACTERL spectrum. We present a case of a newborn girl with mesocardia, tracheoesophageal fistula, and imperforated anus, who required O2 support at birth and during hospitalization. A chest CT angiography revealed a HL as an incidental finding. We suspect that HL and the VACTERL spectrum, are not separated entities but likely a further expansion of VACTERL-associated symptoms. HL might be underdiagnosed in asymptomatic patients as Chest CT angiography is not part of the routine work up for patients with VACTERL association.

Keywords: Computed tomography angiography; Horseshoe lung; Scimitar syndrome; VACTERL; VACTERL association.

Publication types

Case Reports