ABSTRACT

Paralysis of the diaphragm usually results from the phrenic nerve palsy occurring due to birth trauma. In most of the newborns affected, respiratory distress, diaphragm elevation and paradoxical respiration pattern in the affected side are observed. Although management is conservative in asymptomatic diaphragm eventration, symptomatic cases, either congenital or not, should be treated with surgery. A newborn born as meconium stained and with right sided brachial plexus injury who later developed respiratory distress due to ipsilateral diaphragm paralysis is herein presented and discussed.