title: Successful treatment of familial congenital chylothorax by ligation of the thoracic duct: A case report.
abstract: A full term boy was admitted with respiratory distress in the fourth week of his life due to spontaneous chylothorax in his right hemithorax. Spontaneous chylothorax occurred previously in a first cousin of the neonate establishing that way the final diagnosis of familial idiopathic congenital pneumothorax. Failure of the conservative treatment consisting of chest tube drainage, discontinuation of oral diet and administration of total parenteral nutrition in combination with octreotide for one month was followed by the successful ligation of the thoracic duct through a right thoracotomy. The boy still remains free of symptoms and without recurrence of the chylothorax two years later.
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatric Surgery, Hippokration Hospital, Thessaloniki, Greece.
authors.forename: Leopoldini
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Dori
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatric Surgery, Hippokration Hospital, Thessaloniki, Greece.
authors.forename: Eleftherios
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Smaropoulos
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, AHEPA University Hospital, Thessaloniki, Greece.
authors.forename: Georgios
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Tagarakis
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, AHEPA University Hospital, Thessaloniki, Greece.
authors.forename: Christophoros N
authors.initials: CN
authors.lastname: Foroulis
authors.affiliation: Pulmonary Department, "G. Papanikolaou" General Hospital, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zarogoulidis
authors.affiliation: Respiratory Department, Changhai Hospital, Second Military Medical University, Changhai, China.
authors.forename: Haidong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Respiratory Department, Changhai Hospital, Second Military Medical University, Changhai, China.
authors.forename: Bai
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Chong
authors.affiliation: Sana Clinic Group Franken, Department of Cardiology/Pulmonology/Intensive Care/Nephrology, "Hof'' Clinics, University of Erlangen, Hof, Germany.
authors.forename: Wolfgang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Hohenforst-Schmidt
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatric Surgery, Hippokration Hospital, Thessaloniki, Greece.
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Tsikopoulos
keywords: Chylothorax; Congenital chylothorax; Familial chylothorax; Spontaneous chylothorax; Thoracic duct; Thoracic duct ligation