Search

A woman in her 40s self-presented to an emergency department in a major trauma centre with severe right-sided abdominal pain, a tender right upper quadrant mass and chest pain. Diagnostic imaging showed a previously undiagnosed diaphragmatic hernia containing strangulated right colon. The patient had been the victim of a high-energy road traffic accident 18 months earlier, but at that time had not presented to hospital or undergone any outpatient investigation. This emergency presentation necessitated an emergency laparotomy, right colectomy, suture repair of diaphragmatic hernia and formation of ileo-colostomy. While a small number of similar cases have been documented, right-sided traumatic diaphragmatic herniae (TDH), where abdominal viscera bypass the liver and subsequently strangulate, are exceedingly rare. The evidence on delayed diagnosis of TDH is discussed and a system of follow-up for patients who suffer blunt abdominal trauma which is managed non-operatively is suggested., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© BMJ Publishing Group Limited 2024. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared.

A 70-year-old asthmatic man presented with a history of chronic intermittent left-sided chest pains and a bulge-like deformity of his chest which became more prominent with expiration. He sustained a traumatic fall 2 years prior whereby he fractured his right humerus at the surgical neck, requiring total arthroplasty. Examination and CT imaging of the thorax revealed a left costal arch fracture with hemidiaphragm rupture and associated transperitoneal fat herniation. He underwent left thoracolaparotomy with costal arch and diaphragmatic hernia repair. He was discharged 48 hours postoperatively and is satisfied with good outcomes under initial follow-up. This case report highlights the surgical management of a condition that usually presents late after significant trauma and may progress to visceral strangulation if untreated., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© BMJ Publishing Group Limited 2021. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

A 37-year-old woman presented to her local district general hospital with a cough, pleuritic chest pain and intermittent cyanosis. Eight months prior, she underwent a successful pericardial window for recurrent, symptomatic pericardial effusions. On presentation she was hypoxic but haemodynamically stable. Her chest radiograph raised the suspicion of a diaphragmatic hernia, confirmed by CT imaging. This identified herniation through the diaphragm of the transverse colon and left lobe of the liver resulting in cardiac compression and right ventricular dysfunction. She continued to deteriorate and required emergency intubation to allow safe transfer to a tertiary upper gastrointestinal unit. She underwent a laparotomy and repair of the diaphragmatic hernia with an uneventful inpatient recovery. In the literature, diaphragmatic liver herniation is a recognised complication secondary to trauma or congenital defects, however, to our knowledge, there are currently no cases described following pericardial windowing., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© BMJ Publishing Group Limited 2020. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

Traumatic diaphragmatic rupture (TDR) is a rare yet life-threatening occurrence that remains a diagnostic challenge for clinicians. Delayed presentation with associated strangulation of the contents, although uncommon, requires emergent management. A 42-year-old woman presented with constant, severe left-sided shoulder and chest pain, as well as associated upper abdominal pain following a self-contained underwater breathing apparatus (SCUBA) dive. A chest radiograph (CXR) and CT showed a left-sided diaphragmatic hernia containing stomach. She subsequently underwent a laparoscopic repair of the diaphragmatic defect and recovered well postoperatively., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© BMJ Publishing Group Limited 2020. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

A 26-year-old man presented to emergency department with respiratory distress. The initial diagnosis after chest X-ray was massive haemothorax, after insertion of a chest drain and further investigations, it turned up to be a rare case of a delay presentation of traumatic diaphragmatic rupture (DR) (after 1 year of the initial trauma). After excessive resuscitation of the patient in the emergency department, the patient underwent an emergency laparotomy which revealed ischaemic transverse colon herniated into the chest through a 7 cm diaphragmatic defect. Resection of the ischaemic bowel had been done, and the patient admitted to Intensive Therapy Unit (ITU) postoperatively. The patient had an uneventful recovery and discharged home on postoperative day 9. As DR after thoracoabdominal trauma is a rare condition that can be missed at initial presentation, we would like to highlight the main challenges in diagnosing and managing similar cases after reviewing related cases in the literature., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© BMJ Publishing Group Limited 2020. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

Trauma and sneeze-induced or cough-induced intercostal and diaphragm hernias are both rare phenomena, especially in combination. Management of these hernias is not well described, and there is no good evidence to guide operative management. Here we describe a rare presentation of coexisting intercostal and diaphragm hernias and surgical management with primary repair via a thoracotomy., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© BMJ Publishing Group Limited 2019. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)