Diaphragmatic hernia

Last revised by Rohit Sharma ◉ on 27 Nov 2024

Citation, DOI, disclosures and article data

Citation:

Gaillard F, Sharma R, Walizai T, et al. Diaphragmatic hernia. Reference article, Radiopaedia.org (Accessed on 01 Mar 2025) https://doi.org/10.53347/rID-1221

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.53347/rID-1221

Permalink:

https://radiopaedia.org/articles/1221

rID:

1221

Article created:

2 May 2008, Frank Gaillard ◉ ◈

Disclosures:

At the time the article was created Frank Gaillard had no recorded disclosures.

View Frank Gaillard's current disclosures

Last revised:

27 Nov 2024, Rohit Sharma ◉

Disclosures:

At the time the article was last revised Rohit Sharma had no financial relationships to ineligible companies to disclose.

View Rohit Sharma's current disclosures

Revisions:

23 times, by 15 contributors - see full revision history and disclosures

Systems:

Chest

Synonyms:

Diaphragmatic herniation
Diaphragmatic hernias
Diaphragmatic herniae

Diaphragmatic hernias (alternative plural: herniae) are defined as either congenital or acquired defects in the diaphragm.

Pathology

Congenital

There are two main types of congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH)s which are uncommon yet distinct entities that usually occur on the left side (80%) of the diaphragm ^1,2:

Bochdalek hernia: most common (95%), located posterolaterally and usually present in infancy ²
Morgagni hernia: smaller, anterior and presents later in life, through the sternocostal angles ²

Acquired

There are a variety of etiologies for acquired diaphragmatic hernias that usually occur in adulthood ¹:

traumatic diaphragmatic rupture through either penetrating injury (65%) or blunt trauma (35%) ³
hiatus hernia
iatrogenic

Depending on the location and size of the defect retroperitoneal or intra-abdominal organs and tissues can prolapse into thoracic cavity due to the negative intrathoracic pressure ¹. However, the converse i.e. thoracic organ herniation into the abdominal cavity is very rare.