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Paediatric traumatic rupture of the diaphragm


Augustine Olugbemi
Ezekiel Ogunleye
O.A. Olowoyeye
J.O. Eyekpegha
Akerele Oluwaseye
Daniel Kehinde
Oyebola Adekola

Abstract

Traumatic diaphragmatic rupture is not a common injury in children. It is an important cause of morbidity and mortality, though diagnosis may be missed or delayed with atypical clinical presentation and confounding radiological features. A 4-year-old male presented with periumbilical abdominal pain, bilious vomiting, fever and progressive difficulty in breathing for two days. He had complained of vague left-side chest pain on return from the swimming pool about 6 weeks earlier. An initial chest radiograph showed a non-outlined left hemidiaphragm, a left pneumothorax, rightward mediastinal shift and suspected bowel in the chest. He could not afford a CT scan, hence a repeat chest radiograph was performed, which outlined the stomach with an air-fluid level in the left hemithorax.

Keywords: Traumatic Diaphragmatic Rupture, Child, Atypical Chest pain, Blunt injury


Journal Identifiers


eISSN: 2523-0816
print ISSN: 1999-9674