Presentation
Post COVID shortness of breath. Cause?
Patient Data
Grossly elevated left hemidiaphragm with the gastric gas bubble below.
Mild left to right shifting of the heart and mediastinum.
Heart size normal. Lungs clear.
Normal mediastinal contours.
Elevated left hemidiaphragm.
Mild left to right shifting of the heart and mediastinum.
Normal mediastinum. Lungs clear.
No subdiaphragmatic abnormality.
Case Discussion
A new elevated hemidiaphragm can occur for a range of reasons, from the technical, physiological (pregnancy and obesity) through the pathological. The latter can be as broad as a thoracic malignancy to a subphrenic collection.
A CT of the chest and upper abdomen is the normal first line investigation.
In this case, no pathological cause of concern was identified.