Background: Abdominal trauma is frequently encountered, but traumatic injuries to the diaphragm are often missed.
Material and methods: A retrospective review of all the case files of patients presenting with traumatic diaphragmatic injury was performed. These patients were analyzed for their presentation, injury, surgery performed and outcome
Results: A total of 14 patients were thus identified (12 males and 2 females). The average age was 31.5 years. Road traffic accidents were the most common cause, accounting for the majority of cases (12 patients). 10 patients presented within 24 hours of injury; the other 4 presented late (2 1/2 months to 20 years) with the signs and symptoms of acute intestinal obstruction. The left side of the diaphragm was injured more commonly. Herniation of multiple intra abdominal viscera was common, with the stomach being the organ most commonly implicated. There were 2 deaths.
Conclusions: Traumatic injury to the diaphragm must be kept in mind while dealing with patients who have sustained abdominal trauma. The diagnosis can easily be picked up on chest x-ray. Treatment is surgical, with simple suturing of the diaphragm with non-absorbable suture giving good result.