European Journal of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences

RELATIVE POSITION OF RIGHT AND LEFT HEMI DIAPHRAGMS ON NORMAL CHEST RADIOGRAPH AT BPKIHS, DHARAN, NEPAL

*Mishra N., Shrestha A., Singh A. K. and Rai B.

ABSTRACT

Background& objectives: The positions of the domes or cupola of the diaphragm are extremely variable because they depend on body build and the phase of respiration. While interpreting chest radiographs, the position and shape of the diaphragm are routinely used to evaluate whether the lungs are underinflated, as with inadequate inspiration effort or restrictive lung disease, or overinflated, as in emphysema or other obstructive lung diseases and also for the interpretation of normal variant which can otherwise be misdiagnosed as elevated or depressed diaphragm. This study was carried out with objective to study the relative position difference of Right and Left Hemi diaphragms on normal chest radiograph at BPKIHS, Dharan, Nepal. Methods: The study was Cross Sectional which was carried out in the Department of Radiodiagnosis & Medical Imaging, B.P. Koirala Institute of Health Sciences over the period of 3 weeks. The study population consisted of normal individuals coming for chest radiograph in Department. All patients of any age group referred from various outpatient departments of BPKIHS for chest radiograph were included in the study. Patients who had radiographic evidence of chest abnormality were excluded. Results: Our study showed that the right hemi diaphragm was higher than the left in 98.6%, the left was higher in 1.4% and they were in the same height in 0% of the participants. The minimum position difference between the hemi diaphragms was 0.9 cm and maximum position difference was 2.2 cm. Conclusion: out of 72 patients in our study on normal chest radiograph, the right hemi diaphragm was higher than the left in 98.6%, the left was higher in 1.4%. Our data are helpful in understanding normal relative position and normal relative position difference of Right and Left Hemi diaphragms on normal chest radiograph in our population which is important in image interpretation.

Keywords: Hemidiaphragm, normal chest radiograph, relative position difference.