A case of peritoneo-pericardial diaphragmatic hernia treated surgically.

Peritoneo-pericardial diaphragmatic hernia is the rarest of all forms of herniation of abdominal organs through the diaphragm. Only 10 cases have been previously reported. With the exception of three, all were diagnosed after death. Of the three cases diagnosed during life two were diagnosed during operation but the other was diagnosed pre-operatively. The present case to be reported, which constitutes the eleventh in the literature, was diagnosed during operation, and failure to make a pre-operative diagnosis was largely due to unawareness of this rare anomaly (Taillens, 1934). The initial radiological diagnosis was a hydroor pyo-pneumopericardium.