Acute blunt traumatic rupture of the diaphragm in children

E. P. Melzig, M. S. Swank and A. M. Salzberg

Two patients had acute rupture of the diaphragm from blunt trauma. One was a 10 1/2-month-old infant, the youngest yet reported with this condition to our knowledge. He required emergency repair because of increasing encroachment on respiratory function by the hernial contents during the early hours of observation. The second patient, a ten-year-old boy with an associated fractured femur, underwent successful repair of a diaphragmatic laceration that included the pericardium. In this case the approach via the abdomen, used to rule out associated intraperitoneal injuries, actually facilitated the repair, particularly that of the diaphragmatic pericardium.