ABSTRACT

• This is a survey on congenital posterolateral diaphragmatic hernia, conducted by the Korean Association of Pediatric Surgeons(KAPS). A registration form for each patient during the 5-year-period between 1998 and 2002 and a questionaire were sent to each member. Twenty-ninemembers in 22 institutions returned completed forms. The average number of patients per surgeon was 1.4 cases a year. The male to female ratio was 1.64: 1, and annual incidencewas 1/14,522 live births. In this review, factors influencing survival in congenital posterolateral diaphragmatic hernia were age at admission, birth weight, time of antenatal diagnosis, birth place, Apgar score, onset time of symptoms and signs, preoperative cardiopulmonary resuscitation, associated anomalies of themusculoskeletal system, central nervous system, or chromosomes, preoperative stabilization, levels of preoperative FiO₂, pH, and AaDO₂, perioperative complications, bilaterality of defect, size of the defect, and presence or absence of hernia sac.
• Keywords: Congenital posterolateral diaphragmatic hernia; Prognostic factors