Articles

POST-LYMPHANGIOGRAPHIC COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY IN CHYLOTHORAX AFTER ESOPHAGOGASTRECTOMY: A CASE REPORT

Authors: DT Ginat ( ) , LG Sahler ( ) , N Patel ( ) , WA Saad ( ) , DL Waldman ( )

Abstract

Chylothorax is a rare complication of thoracic surgery. Lymphangiography has long been considered to be the standard of reference for diagnosis and post-treatment evaluation while the role of post-lymangiographic CT is debated. We report a case of chylothorax in a 68-year-old male following esophagogastrectomy for which conservative treatment and thoracic duct ligation failed.Lymphangiography performed after these attempts revealed persistent thoracic duct leakage into the right pleural space. Subsequentnon-contrast CT and reformatted images clearly depicted the sources of leakage,and this documentation targeted direct percutaneous treatment. Unfortunately, the lack of access precluded the planned percutaneous CT-guided embolization of the thoracic duct. Nevertheless, this case suggests that post- lymphangiographic CT can serve as a value-added modality in the evaluation and potential treatment of chylothorax.

Keywords: chylothorax, CT, lymphography, thoracic duct, esophagogastrectomy

How to Cite: Ginat, D. , Sahler, L. , Patel, N. , Saad, W. & Waldman, D. (2009) “POST-LYMPHANGIOGRAPHIC COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY IN CHYLOTHORAX AFTER ESOPHAGOGASTRECTOMY: A CASE REPORT”, Lymphology. 42(3).