Complicated bronchiolitis: another use for your bedside ultrasound in the emergency department

Diaphragmatic eventration or diaphragmatic herniations are congenital defect that involve abnormal development of the diaphragm and stretching of the muscular fibers leading to protrusion of abdominal organs into the thoracic cavity. Left sided defects will lead to stomach contents into the chest cavity while, right sided defects will have bowel or liver in the thoracic cavity. Infants with Congenital diaphragmatic hernia often present with respiratory distress that can be life-threatening unless treated appropriately. Bedside ultrasound in the Emergency Department, performed by the Emergency Physician can be a very useful tool in diagnosing conditions such as this one. We present a case of diaphragmatic eventration in a two month old male sent to Emergency Department (ED) by his primary care physician due to a severe case of bronchiolitis.