American Academy of Pediatrics Provides Guidance for Patients With Long-term Needs Following Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia

The American Academy of Pediatrics has released a clinical report to update the follow-up protocol for patients born with congenital diaphragmatic hernia. The clinical report, “Postdischarge Follow-Up of Infants With Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia,” published in the February 2026 Pediatrics (published online Jan. 26), describes significant advances in research, understanding and treatments for patients with congenital diaphragmatic hernia since the last recommendations were published in 2008. The update reflects new considerations for patients and their caregiver’s quality of life and provides a systems-based algorithm to follow for high-risk and low-risk patients.  More children with the condition survive, but many need ongoing care and face additional health challenges, such as pulmonary hypertension; impaired lung function resulting from being on a ventilator; failure to eat sufficient calories to meet energy needs; trouble with motor skills; hearing loss; and hernia recurrence, among others. The AAP recommends that providers develop individualized plans for their patients that balance the care they need with available resources to improve the quality of life for child and caregivers. This report was written by the AAP Section on Surgery and the Committee on Fetus and Newborn. Clinical reports that are created by AAP are written by medical experts, reflect the latest evidence in the field, and go through several rounds of peer review before being approved by the AAP Board of Directors and published in Pediatrics. 

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The American Academy of Pediatrics is an organization of 67,000 primary care pediatricians, pediatric medical subspecialists and pediatric surgical specialists dedicated to the health, safety and well-being of infants, children, adolescents and young adults.