TY - JOUR
T1 - Blunt Trauma Associated With Bilateral Diaphragmatic Rupture
T2 - A Case Report
AU - Pace, Marco
AU - Vallati, Damiano
AU - Belloni, Elena
AU - Cavallini, Marco
AU - Ibrahim, Mohsen
AU - Rendina, Erino Angelo
AU - Nigri, Giuseppe
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2021 Pace, Vallati, Belloni, Cavallini, Ibrahim, Rendina and Nigri.
PY - 2021/12/1
Y1 - 2021/12/1
N2 - Background: A bilateral diaphragmatic rupture is a rare event that occurs in cases of blunt thoracic-abdominal trauma. Case Presentation: We report the case of a 56-year-old female patient with pelvic fracture and second-stage bilateral rupture of the diaphragm due to a car accident. After a chest and abdominal contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT) scan, the patient underwent emergency suturing of the left hemidiaphragm. On postoperative day (POD) 4, a CT scan performed due to the sudden onset of dyspnea revealed rupture of the right hemidiaphragm, which was not detected on the preoperative CT scan. On POD 9, the right hemidiaphragm was repaired with mesh during a right thoracotomy. The patient recovered 14 days after surgery. However, the postoperative course was complicated by an asymptomatic COVID-19 infection that significantly delayed her discharge from the hospital. Conclusions: Difficulties in preoperative diagnosis and treatment, together with the lack of data in the literature, make this type of trauma a challenge for all acute care and general surgeons.
AB - Background: A bilateral diaphragmatic rupture is a rare event that occurs in cases of blunt thoracic-abdominal trauma. Case Presentation: We report the case of a 56-year-old female patient with pelvic fracture and second-stage bilateral rupture of the diaphragm due to a car accident. After a chest and abdominal contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT) scan, the patient underwent emergency suturing of the left hemidiaphragm. On postoperative day (POD) 4, a CT scan performed due to the sudden onset of dyspnea revealed rupture of the right hemidiaphragm, which was not detected on the preoperative CT scan. On POD 9, the right hemidiaphragm was repaired with mesh during a right thoracotomy. The patient recovered 14 days after surgery. However, the postoperative course was complicated by an asymptomatic COVID-19 infection that significantly delayed her discharge from the hospital. Conclusions: Difficulties in preoperative diagnosis and treatment, together with the lack of data in the literature, make this type of trauma a challenge for all acute care and general surgeons.
KW - COVID-19
KW - bilateral diaphragmatic rupture
KW - blunt trauma
KW - case report
KW - emergency surgery
KW - repair of diaphragm
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85121380193&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3389/fsurg.2021.772913
DO - 10.3389/fsurg.2021.772913
M3 - Article
C2 - 34926569
AN - SCOPUS:85121380193
SN - 2296-875X
VL - 8
JO - Frontiers in Surgery
JF - Frontiers in Surgery
M1 - 772913
ER -