collapsed lung twice in 11 weeks

[lisa207]

my seven year old son was admitted to hospital in december with a collapsed lung it was his left lung investigations
showed it was due to a mucus plug that caused this he was treated for this and sent home.
two weeks ago my son woke in the night with server chest pains we took him hospital and a xray showed another collapsed lung but on the opposite side it was the right middle and lower part of his lung that had collapsed this time
numerous blood test have been taken and he has had a TB and cystic fybrosis test both came back negative the pediatritions have put it down to his ashtma but i am concerned it is more than that.
as he picks up infections all the time and is poorly a lot of the time as a result of this he is missing a lot of school does anyone have any surgestions wat else this could be.

[zodiacqueen]

You're right, my vibe also tells me that this is more than asthma.  I've read about a certain immunodefficiency that children are born with.  I believe it reverses as the child gets older, and there is treatment for it!!  The treatment will involve replacement of the deficient immune component.  Pretty simple!!  The doctors can look for this deficiency with a simple blood test!  I hope that you'll bring this up with your son's doctor, it'll be well worth it!

I'm not a doctor, but I just wanted you to know what I've read!!  I wish I could think of the exact name of the immune defficiency, but I can't!!  ={

Hope this helps out!!

[National Jewish Health]

It is not clear to me, from your description, if your son has had recurrent pneumothorax or mucus plug related atelectasis.  If pneumothorax that might be due to “blebs” on the surface of his lungs.  If atelectasis, the question is what type of underlying lung disease, if not cystic fibrosis (CF), would predispose him to repeated infections.  Might he have an asthma-associated condition called allergic bronchopulmonary mycosis (ABPM) that is characterized by the formation of mucus plugs?  Asthma alone would not be responsible for these problems.  It may be time to seek consultation with a pediatric pulmonary specialist, also known as a pulmonologist, to look to more uncommon congenital lung diseases, including tracheobronchomalacia and alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency.  And, yet another condition that could account for repeated infections would be some type of acquired immunodeficiency state.

At age 7, with his long history of respiratory problems, it is time to thoroughly investigate what might be going on.  The specialist consultation along with a CT scan of your son’s lungs could be helpful in sorting-out the various possibilities.

Good luck.