Late Diaphragmatic Laceration Detected as a Result of Spontaneous Pneumothorax

Injury to the right diaphragm is sometimes missed in the acute stage and is detected only when the rupture becomes more extensive, a diaphragmatic hernia develops, and dyspnea ensues. We report a case in which spontaneous right pneumothorax developed 46 months after blunt trauma due to a fall. Air had leaked into the right pleural cavity, passed through the injured right diaphragm, and entered the abdominal cavity; the patient presented with intraperitoneal emphysema. 「INTRODUCTION」Because injury to the diaphragm associated with blunt trauma is often asymptomatic and there are few radiographic identifiers, it is easy to miss [1]. Particularly because the liver lies just beneath the diaphragm on the peritoneal cavity side, injury to the right diaphragm can be asymptomatic even when there is a transmural laceration, and this type of injury is hard to detect on radiographic images [2]. We report a case of transmural laceration of the right diaphragm that was discovered as a result of spontaneous right pneumothorax 46 months after the patient sustained blunt trauma due to a fall.