Flickering diaphragm sign, an indicator of laparoscopy-associated pneumothorax secondary to pleural breach

Abstract

During laparoscopic mobilisation of the oesophagus around hiatus in transhiatal oesophagectomy; commonly the pleura is breached causing iatrogenic pneumothorax. Often small breaches in pleura goes unnoticed till the attention is drawn by anaesthetist when pressures drop with building up of end-tidal CO₂(etCO2) and other haemodynamic changes occur. We describe the flickering movements of the diaphragm associated with the pleural breach, a useful sign to alert the surgeon and anaesthetist to detect pneumothorax earlier than it is clinically evident.

Keywords: Laparoscopy-associated pneumothorax; pleural breach; pneumothorax.