BILATERAL LARGE BOCHDALEK HERNIAS IN AN ADULT - CT DEMONSTRATION

Bochdalek hernia is a congenital posterior diaphragmatic defect result ing from failure of the retroperitoneal canal membrane to fuse with th e dorsal esophageal mesentery and the body wall. A recent computed tom ography study indicated that these defects frequently can be identifie d on routine chest and abdominal images, and classified them as small, medium, and large, the large ones being identifiable on five or more contiguous axial scans consisting of 1-cm-thick sections. Although the overall prevalence of Bochdalek hernias is 6%, and that of bilateral hernias is 0.9%, to date only a few patients with unilateral or bilate ral large hernias have been reported. This article describes an adult with asymptomatic, bilateral, large Bochdalek defects containing herni ated retroperitoneal fat.