According to a case study published in the journal Pediatrics, an innovative, minimally invasive procedure was used to treat the potentially life-threatening illness plastic bronchitis in a six-year-old boy with a heart condition. The procedure used lymphatic imaging tools and catheterization techniques to remove bronchial casts that were clogging the patient’s airway.
“Our technique represents a new treatment option for plastic bronchitis, which is a rare but often fatal complication of pediatric surgery for single-ventricle disease,” said Dr. Yoav Dori in a press release. Dr. Dori is a pediatric cardiologist in the Cardiac Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, co-author of the case study. He worked alongside Dr. Maxim Itkin, an interventional radiologist of the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and Dr. Mark S. Keller, an interventional radiologist at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
Plastic bronchitis is a disorder characterized by abnormal circulation of lymph, which helps to transport fat and protein while aiding in immune function. Plastic bronchitis causes lymph to move into the airway and hardening into a cast that takes the shape of the airway. If the child cannot cough out the blockage, it may cause fatal asphyxiation.
According to Dr. Jack Rychik, co-author of the study, “It is conceivable that this technique could even result in a long-term cure for plastic bronchitis.”
Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and Penn Medicine are working together to launch the Lymphatic Imaging and Interventions Program, which will address several conditions including chylopericardium and chylothorax. It will also give patients who suffer from these rare conditions access to a program run by world leaders in management of these diseases.
