[Traumatic lung herniation in a child]

Traumatic lung hernia of the chest wall is unusual in pediatric patients. Most acquired traumatic lung hernia occur at the site of injury or on the anterior parasternal chest wall because the external intercostal muscle is absent from the cost cartilaginous junction to the sternum. A five-year-old girl presented with such a hernia after severe blunt trauma to her right torso. A chest radiograph, immediately after the injury and a CT scan showed lung herniation. She was treated surgically by direct repair of the chest wall defect. The recovery proceeded without complications. With early identification and appropriate surgical or video-assisted repair, symptomatic pulmonary hernia can have an excellent prognosis and very low probability of recurrence.