Chilaiditi's syndrome as a surgical and nonsurgical problem

Hepatodiaphragmatic interposition of the intestine is a rare anomaly (0.025 to 0.28 percent of the general population) described by Chilaiditi in 1911 and often believed to be of irrelevant clinical interest. To the contrary, recent studies stated that this syndrome is a potential source of abdominal problems requiring emergency or elective operation. From a retrospective analysis of records since 1976, four instances of Chilaiditi's syndrome have been found (three males and one female). Interposition of the proximal transverse colon was found in three patients and the small intestine in one patient. The findings of plain roentgenograms of the chest were determinants for diagnosis in three patients. In one patient, a barium meal was given to obtain a better definition. Two patients were admitted for malignant neoplasms (metastatic carcinoma of the breast, carcinoma of the gastrointestinal tract and cirrhosis of the liver) and died within a few months. The other two patients complained of abdominal pain. Patient No. 4 had gastric volvulus. Chilaiditi's syndrome was diagnosed intraoperatively in that patient and a surgical treatment with hepatopexy was performed, by suturing the falciform, the coronaria ligament and the anterior margin of the liver to the diaphragm with interrupted absorbable stitches. After a two year follow-up evaluation, this patient is as well as the patient who underwent medical therapy. Volvulus of the stomach, as was found in Patient No. 4, is an unusual condition and, to our knowledge, the patient is the second reported instance.