title: Efficacy of octreotide against chylothorax following lateral neck dissection for thyroid cancer: A case report.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Postsurgical chylothorax is a rare complication of cervical dissection for thyroid cancer. We report that octreotide, a synthetic analog of somatostatin, is effective in treating chylothorax after thyroid carcinoma surgery.
  
  
  METHODS
  The patient was a 48-year-old woman who presented to our institution complaining of a left anterior cervical mass. We diagnosed this as thyroid papillary carcinoma and performed a subtotal excision of the thyroid gland with left cervical lymph node dissection. The patient developed dyspnea, and a chest X-ray revealed bilateral chylothorax on Day 4 post-surgery. Octreotide was administered since bilateral chylothorax was noted. A marked decrease in chyle effusion was noted just 3 days after starting octreotide, and after a total of 9 days of treatment, there were no further signs of chylous effusion.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Octreotide is effective against postsurgical chylothorax; however, if there are no signs of improvement, we believe surgical treatment should be considered.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Octreotide should be administered first to treat postsurgical chylothorax before surgical treatment is considered.
authors.affiliation: Breast Center, Dokkyo Medical University Koshigaya Hospital, 2-1-50 Minamikoshigaya, Koshigaya, Saitama 343-8555, Japan. Electronic address: rinbara1127@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Noriaki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hayashibara
authors.affiliation: Breast Center, Dokkyo Medical University Koshigaya Hospital, 2-1-50 Minamikoshigaya, Koshigaya, Saitama 343-8555, Japan.
authors.forename: Toshihisa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ogawa
authors.affiliation: Breast Center, Dokkyo Medical University Koshigaya Hospital, 2-1-50 Minamikoshigaya, Koshigaya, Saitama 343-8555, Japan.
authors.forename: Eiichi
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Tsuji
authors.affiliation: Breast Center, Dokkyo Medical University Koshigaya Hospital, 2-1-50 Minamikoshigaya, Koshigaya, Saitama 343-8555, Japan.
authors.forename: Kazuo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ishizuna
keywords: Chylothorax; Octreotide; Thyroid cancer