Chest radiograph of a two-year-old girl with congenital lobar emphysema and minimal clinical symptoms

The chest radiograph was obtained due to a mild acute upper respiratory tract infection. The marked hyperinflation of the left upper lobe was an incidental finding. Early signs of deformity of the left chest wall due to the hyperinflation can be seen. In retrospect, her family recalled that she had always been somewhat tachypneic, even at rest, and had some exercise intolerance.