Diaphragmatic Rupture - Causes

Causes

The injury may be caused by blunt trauma, penetrating trauma, and by iatrogenic causes (as a result of medical intervention), for example during surgery to the abdomen or chest. Injury to the diaphragm is reported to be present in 8% of cases of blunt chest trauma. In cases of blunt trauma, vehicle accidents and falls are the most common causes. Penetrating trauma has been reported to cause 12.3–20% of cases, but it has also been proposed as a more common cause than blunt trauma; discrepancies could be due to varying regional, social, and economic factors in the areas studied. Stab and gunshot wounds can cause diaphragmatic injuries. Clinicians are trained to suspect diaphragmatic rupture particularly if penetrating trauma has occurred to the lower chest or upper abdomen. With penetrating trauma, the contents of the abdomen may not herniate into the chest cavity right away, but they may do so later, causing the presentation to be delayed. Since the diaphragm moves up and down during breathing, penetrating trauma to various parts of the torso may injure the diaphragm; penetrating injuries as high as the third rib and as low as the twelfth have been found to injure the diaphragm.