Paralysis of the diaphragm after pneumonia and of undetermined cause.

Unilateral paralysis of the diaphragm not due to some obvious cause such as neoplasm or pulmonary tuberculosis has been said to be uncommon (Freedman, 1950). I present 16 such cases found during two years in a chest clinic. My purpose is to show that this is a comparatively common condition and that it may be caused by simple pulmonary inflammation (referred to in this paper as pneumonia). Clinical and radiological data about the 16 cases are summarized in the Table.