Understanding and treating congenital diaphragmatic hernia

The diaphragm, a shelf of muscle that separates the chest cavity from the abdominal cavity, is critical to sustaining life. A life-threatening birth defect known as congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH), results from failure of normal diaphragm formation which in turn allows abdominal organs to migrate into the chest cavity. Abnormal lung development, so-called pulmonary hypoplasia, frequently co-occurs with CDH, and in fact is the major predictor of morbidity and mortality. This appears to arise from combined primary developmental defects of the lung, as well as mechanical compression from the displaced abdominal contents. CDH affects as many as 1 in 3,000 newborns and continues to have a...

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