Elsevier

Respiratory Medicine

Volume 100, Issue 9, September 2006, Pages 1657-1659
Respiratory Medicine

CASE REPORT
Right hemi-diaphragm paralysis following cardiac radiofrequency ablation

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rmed.2005.12.012Get rights and content
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Summary

Diaphragm paralysis may occur after traumatic phrenic nerve injury. Here we report three patients in whom right hemi-diaphragmatic paralysis developed after cardiac radiofrequency ablation. We hypothesise that local focused thermal energy at the time of the ablation may have caused direct neuronal damage by axonal coagulation necrosis. The prognosis for this type of injury may be reasonably good; two of the three patients fully recovered diaphragm function by 1 year.

Keywords

Radiofrequency ablation
Hemi-diaphragm paralysis
Phrenic nerve testing

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