Thickening of the diaphragm: A new computed tomography sign of diaphragm injury

Computed tomography examination is becoming a standard method of evaluating injury in blunt trauma. This report describes a previously unreported comp uted tomography sign of diaphragmatic injury. A retrospective review of ima ging findings was performed on eight patients with surgically proven trauma tic diaphragmatic rupture. Thickening of the diaphragm was present on compu ted tomography in six of eight patients with surgically proven diaphragm ru pture. Two patients demonstrated previously established computed tomography signs of diaphragm rupture and two patients bad no findings to suggest dia phragm injury. Diaphragm thickening is associated with diaphragm rupture an d may be a useful diagnostic sign in the evaluation of patients with blunt trauma.