ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the diagnosis and surgical therapy of delayed diaphragmatic rupture.Methods Forty patients with traumatic diaphragmatic rupture with delayed presentation were collected in Peking Uniom Medical College Hospital from January 2000 to December 2016.In all 40 patients, 36 patients had traumatic past history, 32 patients had clini-cal manifestations when diagnosed.Left-sided diaphragmatic rupture was found in 32 patients and right in 8 patients.1 patient received emergency surgery and 39 received selective surgery.38 patients received transthoracic surgery and 2 patients received combined thoracic-abdominal surgery.36 patients received direct diaphragm suture and 4 patients received patch repair.Re-sults All patients were recovered from the hospital.The median length of postoperative hospital stay was 11 days( range, 5-26 days).1 patient was found intestinal obstruction and received enterolysis 19 days after surgery.Conclusion Delayed traumat-ic diaphragmatic rupture is a rare but serious disease.Careful past history, physical examination and CT scan with reconstruc-tion of diaphragm are helpful in diagnosis and differential diagnosis.Surgical therapy after diagnosis is the best treatment.