Iatrogenic diaphragmatic hernia seen as a late complication of video-assisted lung lobectomy —A case report—

Abstract

We report a case of diaphragmatic hernia seen as a late complication of video-assisted lung lobectomy. An 81-year-old woman underwent video-assisted lower lobectomy of the left lung for adenocarcinoma, which was 2.5 cm in diameter. Eleven months after surgery, she experienced nausea and vomiting, and chest radiograph and chest computed tomography revealed that the stomach had herniated into the left thoracic cavity. Surgery was performed 7 days after the symptoms first occurred. Posterolateral thoracotomy revealed 1,000 ml of bloody pleural effusion and adhesion of the stomach to the chest wall. We resolved the adhesion and reduced the stomach and greater omentum into the abdominal cavity. The hiatus in the central tendon of the diaphragm was sutured. The post-operative course was uneventful, and the patient maintains a favorable course without recurrence of either the lung cancer or diaphragmatic hernia.