Laparoscopic approach to surgical management of congenital diaphragmatic hernia in the newborn.

The incidence of congenital diaphragmatic hernia is between 1 in 2,000 to 5,000 births, 1 - 3 Approximately one third of infants with CDH are stillborn, 4 but these deaths usually are caused by associated fatal congenital anomalies. When still bom babies are counted with live births, girls appear to be more commonly afflicted than boys. 1 Defects are more common on the left side; with approximately 80% being left sided and 20% right sided. 1 5 The authors describe the laparoscopic approach to the management of congenital left sided diaphragmatic hernia in a 9-day-old neonate. The operating time was 40 minutes. The postoperative period was uneventful. Feeding was begun on the first postoperative day, and the patient was discharged on the fifth day after the surgery. The follow-up period had no complications. Laparoscopic diaphragmatic hernia repair offers all the advantages of minimal invasive surgery and a new approach for repair of diaphragmatic hernia in neonates.