This study involved 163 patients with penetrating injuries of the diaphragm (knife, 139; bullet, 24). Intra-abdominal injuries were present in 122 patients (75 per cent) and this resulted in early diagnosis and treatment of the associated diaphragmatic injury (mortality 3.2 per cent). In the remaining 41 patients (25 per cent) the injury was confined to the diaphragm, and the diagnosis was missed during the initial admission in 10 patients who returned at a later stage with diaphragmatic hernia. A diaphragmatic hernia was found in 24 cases (14.7 per cent). Fourteen of these were diagnosed during the initial admission (mortality 7.1 per cent) and the remaining ten were diagnosed during a subsequent admission (mortality 30 per cent). The initial chest radiograph was diagnostic of diaphragmatic injury in 13 per cent, abnormal but not diagnostic in 76 per cent, and completely normal in 11 per cent. The importance of early diagnosis in reducing mortality, morbidity and hospital stay is emphasized. A high index of suspicion, careful clinical examination, and serial chest radiographs remain the best way of making the diagnosis.
Fifty-one instances of oesophageal perforation were discovered when the records of 10,143 [corrected] patients with external penetrating injuries of the neck, chest and abdomen were reviewed. Of these, 33 resulted from stab wounds, 17 from bullets and one from hyperextension of the neck. There were 15 perforations of the pharynx and 36 of the oesophagus. Oesophagography in a lateral decubitus position demonstrated the perforation in all 16 patients in whom it was used. In 45 patients simple repair within 24 h of injury was performed (mortality rate 11 per cent). In six patients with a delay of more than 24 h in the repair of the thoracic oesophagus, special techniques were preferred. In two patients an oesophageal diversion-exclusion method was used; one such patient died. In four patients repair over a large-bore T tube was carried out with one death. The main cause of mortality was associated spinal injury (four deaths).
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