Abstract
A post-traumatic diaphragmatic hernia (PTDH) is defined as a protrusion of abdominal viscera into the thoracic cavity through a traumatic injury of the diaphragm. It may be a consequence of blunt or penetrating trauma, and it may present in the acute setting or, if missed at initial evaluation, in a delayed context. In the acute setting, PTDH are usually associated with other organ injuries that are the major responsible of clinical presentation and surgical indication; when isolated, diaphragmatic injuries (DI) are more commonly small and asymptomatic per sè; hence, the diagnosis may be challenging. High rates of mortality and morbidity related to the delayed presentation make crucial to early diagnose it. DI occur more frequently on the left side, either in blunt or in penetrating trauma. Laparoscopy plays a key role, not only for the diagnosis of occult DI not detectable at the CT scan but also for the repair.
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Cremonini, C. et al. (2023). Post-traumatic Diaphragmatic Hernia. In: Coccolini, F., Podda, M., Lim, R.B., Chiarugi, M. (eds) Mini-invasive Approach in Acute Care Surgery. Hot Topics in Acute Care Surgery and Trauma. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-39001-2_16
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