ObjectiveTo compare and analyze the treatment effect of thoracoscopic surgery and traditional open surgery on infants with congenital diaphragmatic eventration, and summarize the experience of thoracoscopic surgery in infants with congenital diaphragmatic eventration.MethodsWe retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of 105 children with congenital diaphragmatic eventration who received operation in the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery of Children’s Hospital of Chongqing Medical University from January 2010 to January 2019. The patients were divided into an open group and a thoracoscopic group according to the operation methods. There were 41 patients in the thoracoscopic group, including 30 males and 11 females, with an average of 13.42±11.08 months (range: 1 d to 3 years). There were 64 patients in the open group, including 44 males and 20 females, with an average age of 8.21±9.33 months (range: 15.0 d to 1.6 years). The operation time, intraoperative bleeding volume, postoperative mechanical ventilation time, hospital stay and other operation indexes as well as the mortality, recurrence rate and complication rate of the two groups were observed.ResultsThe operation indexes such as operation time, intraoperative bleeding volume, postoperative mechanical ventilation time, thoracic drainage time, CCU stay and hospital stay of the thoracoscopic group were better than those in the open group (P<0.05). There was no statistical difference between two groups in postoperative diaphgram muscles descent, postoperative feeding time or patients needing thoracic drainage (P>0.05). The incidence of postoperative complications in the thoracoscopic group (19.51%) was lower than that in the open group (23.44%, P>0.05), and the difference in mortality and recurrence rate between the two groups was not statistically significant (P>0.05).ConclusionBoth thoracoscopic diaphragmatic plication and traditional open surgery can effectively treat congenital diaphragmatic eventration, but compared with traditional open surgery, thoracoscopic diaphragmatic plication has the advantages of shorter operation time, less trauma, more rapid recovery and fewer complications, so it should be the first choice for children with congenital diaphragmatic eventration.