Light at the end of the tunnel: a technical note on thoracoscopic repair of congenital diaphragmatic hernia

Thoracoscopic repair of congenital diaphra­gmatic hernia (CDH) has been described by a number of authors and is increasingly widely practiced. We present a technical learning point. CDH is associated with the presence of a hernia sac in around 20% of all cases. In this case the presence of a ruptured hernia sac complicated the thoracoscopic repair of a left sided CDH, as it was initially difficult to recognise. Once the anatomy was clarified the repair was satisfactorily completed and the child made a rapid postoperative recovery. This technical note is to warn other surgeons that a tunnel like appearance of the diaphragmatic defect may in fact be due to the presence of a torn hernia sac, which requires excision before closure of the defect.