A wheezing child: breath sounds or bowel sounds?

Many children are brought to the emergency department because of respiratory symptoms including wheezing. Asthma is the most common but not the only cause of wheezing in children. There are many conditions, both pulmonary and extrapulmonary, which may cause recurrent wheezing. The diagnosis in children with congenital diaphragmatic hernia may be delayed. The late presentation of congenital diaphragmatic hernia poses a considerable diagnostic challenge. We report an 18-month-old child with congenital diaphragmatic hernia who presented with recurrent respiratory symptoms and localized physical findings. This case underscores the need to consider alternative diagnoses including congenital diaphragmatic hernia in the evaluation of recurrent respiratory symptoms; this is especially true if the presentation is not consistent with asthma or there are asymmetric findings on auscultation.