Most bronchopulmonary sequestrations are asymptomatic in the neonatal period. Which statement best describes this?

• A. They are usually symptomatic at birth
• B. They are typically asymptomatic in the neonatal period
• C. They always present with fever
• D. They present with severe hypoxemia

Answer: (B)

Bronchopulmonary sequestration is a congenital lung anomaly where a piece of nonfunctioning lung tissue receives arterial blood from a systemic vessel rather than the normal pulmonary circulation. In the newborn period, most of these lesions do not cause symptoms, so they are typically asymptomatic at birth. Symptoms, when they do appear in infancy, are more often due to infection or mass effect rather than being present universally at birth. Fever would indicate infection rather than a characteristic feature of all sequestrations, and severe hypoxemia is not a common presenting finding in the neonatal period for most cases. Therefore, the statement that they are typically asymptomatic in the neonatal period best reflects the usual course.