[Congenital defects of the diaphragm in siblings. Two case reports (author's transl)].

In two different families each time two siblings head a congenital defect of the diaphragm, in 3 cases of the posterolateral type, in 1 case an almost complete aplasia of the diaphragm. Usually, the occurrence of defects of the diaphragm is sporadic. However, familial occurrence has been reported in 15 cases. Multifactorial inheritance is most likely the explanation for this. With this hypothesis a risk of 2% can be calculated for the recurrence of this malformation in a family with already one affected child.