Arquivos Brasileiros de Cardiologia (Jan 2003)

Ligation of the thoracic duct for the treatment of chylothorax in heart diseases

  • Pêgo-Fernandes Paulo M.,
  • Jatene Fábio B.,
  • Tokunaga Clayton Cesar,
  • Simão Danielle Tiemi,
  • Beirutty Ricardo,
  • Iwahashi Eliza Rumiko,
  • Oliveira Sérgio Almeida de

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 81, no. 3
pp. 314 – 317

Abstract

Read online

In children, chylothorax occurs mainly after cardiac and thoracic surgeries. One of the recommended postsurgery treatments is ligation of the thoracic tract, when all other conservative treatments have failed. We report 4 cases of chylothorax in patients who were successfully treated with this approach, which resulted in a decrease in pleural drainage without recurrent chylothorax.