Congenital lobar emphysema: Like father, like son.

Congenital lobar emphysema (CLE) is an uncommon cause of progressive respiratory distress that typically presents in the first few days of life. There has been a previous report of CLE in a mother and daughter. The authors describe 2 cases involving the right upper and middle lobes in a father and son secondary to relative deficiency of the bronchial cartilage. This provides additional evidence for inherited factors in the etiology of CLE.