Temporary "Spontaneous" Paralysis of the Diaphragm

¹ The Veterans Hospital, Livermore, California.

This patient with an established diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis first developed what in retrospect appears to have been attacks of bilateral phrenic neuritis, and then phrenic paralysis, lasting less than three weeks. Although it is impossible to prove a definite diagnosis, the pre-existing tuberculosis and the absence of other significant findings, together with the bronchoscopic observations suggest a tuberculous process, probably of the lymph-nodes compressing the phrenic nerve, as the most likely cause.

A review of the causes of unilateral diaphragmatic elevation is presented in connection with this report.