title: Chylothorax after abdominal surgery.
abstract: Chylothorax is usually a complication of thoracic surgery procedures. Over a 5-year period we encountered three cases of chylothorax following abdominal surgery performed in general surgery units. The initial effusions, not lactescent, were ascribed to a pleural reaction that sometimes is observed during the postoperative period after abdominal surgery. Once the diagnosis was established, the initial conservative treatment failed, and surgery was necessary. In our patients, their debilitated physical condition precluded a thoracotomy approach. A video-assisted thoracoscopy procedure was undertaken, but the extensive pleural effusions, caused in part by the delay in the diagnosis, prevented the exact localization of the duct and its closure. Talc pleurodesis was successfully employed in all patients. Even after abdominal surgery, a persistent pleural effusion should always induce us to suspect a chylothorax.
authors.affiliation: Cardiothoracic Surgery Unit, University Federico II, Naples, Italy. sal.griffo@libero.it
authors.forename: Salvatore
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Griffo
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: De Luca
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Stassano
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D002916:Chylothorax / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000209:etiology* / Q000601:surgery; D057210:Delayed Diagnosis; D004322:Drainage; D005260:Female; D018662:Fundoplication / Q000009:adverse effects*; D005743:Gastrectomy / Q000009:adverse effects*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010996:Pleural Effusion / Q000209:etiology; D018700:Pleurodesis; D012086:Reoperation; D013627:Talc / Q000627:therapeutic use; D020775:Thoracic Surgery, Video-Assisted; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D013627:Talc