Diaphragmatic injuries are relatively rare and result from either blunt or penetrating trauma.
Diagnosis and treatment are similar regardless of mechanism, although many management issues are specific to blunt trauma. Thus, this chapter focuses on blunt injuries and details their specific differences from penetrating injuries. Diaphragmatic injuries were described first by Sennertus in 1541. Riolfi performed the first successful repair in 1886. Not until 1951, when Carter et al published the first case series, was this injury well understood and delineated.