Late Onset Traumatic Diaphragmatic Herniation Leading to Intestinal Obstruction and Pancreatitis: Two Separate Cases

Abstract

Although diaphragmatic injuries caused by blunt or penetrating trauma are rare entities, they are the most commonly misdiagnosed injuries in trauma patients and occur in approximately 3–7% of all abdominal or thoracic traumas. Acute pancreatitis secondary to late presenting diaphragmatic hernia is very rare. Here we present two separate cases: one with acute bowel obstruction and the other with acute pancreatitis secondary to late onset traumatic diaphragmatic hernia (three and twenty-eight years after chest trauma, resp.).