Presentations of agenesis of the hemidiaphragm in an adult

Authors

• Osama M. Izeldin, Department of Primary Care, Faculty of Medicine, King Fahad Armed Forces Hospital, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
• Mohamed E. Ahmed, Faculty of Medicine, University of Khartoum, PO Box 102, Khartoum, Sudan. E-mail: rasheid{at}usa.net

Abstract

A 67-year-old man presented with chest tightness and vomiting of one-week duration. On physical examination bowel sounds were heard on the left chest. Plain chest x-ray, barium swallow, and CT scan suggested gastric volvulus with diaphragmatic hernia. At laparotomy there was complete agenesis of the left hemidiaphragm with no diaphragmatic remnants seen and no associated lung hypoplasia. This is an extremely rare condition and careful assessment is needed to differentiate between diaphragmatic hernia and agenesis of the diaphragm as more cases could be diagnosed in the future as a result of good perinatal care of agenesis of hemidiaphragm AHD and long term survival to adulthood.

Article Type

Case Report

First Page

441

Last Page

443

Recommended Citation

Izeldin, Osama M. and Ahmed, Mohamed E. (2008) "Presentations of agenesis of the hemidiaphragm in an adult," Saudi Medical Journal: Vol. 29: Iss. 3, Article 22.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15537/1658-3175.4269