Seventeen patients with traumatic diaphragmatic injury treated at the Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Keimyung University Dong San Medical Center from Aug. 1978 to Mar. 1989 were revicwed.
There were 14 male and 3 female patients....
Seventeen patients with traumatic diaphragmatic injury treated at the Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Keimyung University Dong San Medical Center from Aug. 1978 to Mar. 1989 were revicwed.
There were 14 male and 3 female patients. The age distribution was uanged from 3 to 72 years, with a mean age of 43.6 years. Eleven patients had blunt trauma(traffic accident 10, fall down 1), and 6 had penetrating injuries(stab wound 5, brocken glass 1). Eleven (65 percent) of the injuries occurred on the left side and 6 (35 percent) on the right side. Ten patients were operated on during the acute phase, four patients durinig the latent phase, three patients during the obstructive phase. The surgical appoach in 14 patients wes through a thoracootomy; in 2 patients, a thoracoabdominal incision was necessary, and in 1 patient, a laparatomy was performed. Herniated organs in thorax included stomach(5), liver(3), colon(3), small bowel(1). Postoperative complications included wound infection, empyema, pneumonia, and respiratiory failure. There were 2 postoperative deaths, one with caused sepsis and one with repiratory failure.