Table 3 Causes of pulmonary cavities in children

Primary infectious causes

 Bacterial infections

  - Necrotizing pneumonia

  - Lung abscess

  - Septic pulmonary emboli

 Uncommon bacterial infections

   - Actinomyces spp

   - Nocardia spp

   - Burkholderia pseudomallei (melioidosis)

 Mycobacterial infections

  - Mycobacterium tuberculosis

  - Non-tuberculous mycobacteria spp

 Fungal infections

  - Aspergillus

  - Mucormycoses

  - Other – eg. Cryptococcus spp., Pneumocystis jirovecii

 Helminthic infections

  - Echinococcus spp

  - Other – eg. Paragonimus westermani

Secondarily infected congenital lung malformations

 - eg. bronchogenic cysts, congenital pulmonary adenomatoid malformation and bronchopulmonary sequestration

 - or a congenital diaphragmatic hernia with an intercurrent respiratory illness

Other causes

 Traumatic pseudocysts

 Underlying immunodeficiency^a

  - eg. chronic granulomatous disease or hyper IgE syndrome with recurrent infections and pneumatoceles persisting >1 yr

 Malignancy

  - eg. primary germ cell tumor, lymphoproliferative disorders Langerhan cell histiocystosis

 Vasculitis syndromes

  - eg. Wegener granulomatosis, Churg-Strauss syndrome