Congenital bilateral absence of diaphragm.

Diaphragmatic hernia occurs in one in 2000 births' and is responsible for 8 % of congenital malformations causing death during the first few days after birth.2 The most common hernia occurs through the foramen of Bochdalek and is five times more common on the left side than on the right.3 Complete absence of the diaphragm is very rare and, in a series of 117 cases of diaphragmatic hernia in infants and children, Baffes did not encounter a single case.4 We report here a case of total agenesis of the peripheral diaphragm with underdevelopment of the lungs.