What Does "slight Right Elevated Hemidiaphragm" Mean?

Posted on Thu, 17 Jul 2014

Question: I am a 35 year old female with asthma and a history of respiratory infections due to an immunodeficiency called CVID. Recently, I had a chest X-ray to check for pneumonia due to fever, shortness of breath, chest pain and unproductive cough. It was clear except for "slight right elevated hemidiaphragm, stable". It's never been "detected" in previous X-rays, and I have a few a year. Is this something I should be concerned about?

Answered by Dr. Anshul Varshney (1 hour later)

Brief Answer:
Detail Follows.

Detailed Answer:
Dear Friend.
Welcome to HCM. I am Dr Anshul Varshney. I understand your concern.
See most common cause of Elevated Right lobe of diaphragm is anything related to Liver Pathology like Liver Abscess.
But since you are saying it's slight, I don't find it a reason to worry because this can happen due to incorrect posturing during Xray exposure.
If you are still worried and want to be very sure since you have immunodeficiency state you can simply do two things:
1. Get an Ultrasound Abdomen done
2. Repeat Chest Xray.

If you have any further query feel free to ask me.
Stay Healthy.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Vaishalee Punj