[Congenital aplasia of the diaphragm]

The present paper reports on a complete left-sided aplasia of the diaphragm. In this especially risky case (birth weight 2000g) the left hepatic lobe was used for separation of the abdominal from the thoracical space in order to quickly terminate the surgical operation. Very probably the child would not have survived a major plastic operation. As the control examination (annual control) showed, the child is developing quite normally. Until now tests of the hepatic function did not render any pathologic findings either.