Link: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26104782

Scand J Trauma Resusc Emerg Med. 2015 Jun 24;23:49. doi: 10.1186/s13049-015-0129-8.
Tension gastrothorax: acute life-threatening manifestation of late onset congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) in children.
N?ss PA1,2, Wiborg J3,4, Kjellevold K3,4, Gaarder C4.
Author information
1Department of Traumatology, Oslo University Hospital Ulleval, Nydalen postbox 4956, N-0424, Oslo, Norway. paanae@ous-hf.no.
2Department of Gastrointestinal and Pediatric Surgery, Oslo University Hospital Ulleval, Nydalen, Norway. paanae@ous-hf.no.
3Department of Traumatology, Oslo University Hospital Ulleval, Nydalen postbox 4956, N-0424, Oslo, Norway.
4Department of Gastrointestinal and Pediatric Surgery, Oslo University Hospital Ulleval, Nydalen, Norway.
Abstract
Tension gastrothorax in children is a life-threatening condition and presents dramatically with acute and severe respiratory distress. It develops when an intra-thoracic stomach herniated through a diaphragmatic defect is massively distended by trapped air and/or fluid causing mediastinal displacement. Tension gastrothorax is often misinterpreted as tension pneumothorax and managed as such leading to increased morbidity and mortality. We present a child with tension gastrothorax and a literature review of this phenomenon.Immediate clinical and radiographic evaluation should lead to accurate diagnosis followed by emergency decompression of the stomach before laparotomy with reduction of herniated viscera and repair of the diaphragmatic defect.

PMID: 26104782 [PubMed - in process] PMCID: PMC4477604 Free PMC Article
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