Conservative treatment of postoperative chylothorax with octreotide.
Chylothorax is a rare but serious and well-recognized complication of general thoracic and cardiac procedures. No new invasive or non-invasive definitive therapies are available. This article reports the case of a 67-year-old woman who underwent myocardial revascularization and who developed a postoperative chylothorax necessitating continuous drainage and conservative management. When after 1 week this treatment still had not resolved the chylothorax, octreotide was instituted, leading to a rapid cessation of chyle production and rendering surgical management of this complication unnecessary.
Division of Cardiovascular Surgery, Department of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery, Hesperia Hospital, Modena, Italy. dgabbieri@yahoo.it
Davide
D
Gabbieri
Lucilla
L
Bavutti
Fabio
F
Zacà
Bruno
B
Turinetto
Italo
I
Ghidoni
D000368:Aged; D002916:Chylothorax / Q000188:drug therapy*; D001026:Coronary Artery Bypass; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007387:Internal Mammary-Coronary Artery Anastomosis; D015282:Octreotide / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000188:drug therapy*
D015282:Octreotide