Early diagnosis and management of diaphragmatic rupture due to blunt abdominal trauma

The experience gained in the management of twenty patients with diaphragmatic rupture due to blunt abdominal trauma, with particular emphasis on early diagnosis and treatment is reported on. Suggestions are made on manoeuvre to facilitate early diagnosis, so that the number of patients seen in the latent and strangulation phases of the ailment is reduced to the barest minimum. Mortality rates with early diagnosis and treatment is low, whilst the mortality rates with late diagnosis and treatment is disproportionately high.