Chylous Ascites in a Patient with Inflammatory Myofibroblastic Tumor

BACKGROUND: We present the case of a 64-year-old patient who presented to his primary care physician with fatigue, worsening shortness of breath, abdominal discomfort and a rapidly growing abdominal girth, although he had lost 5 kg of weight within 3 months. He had a history of untreated hypertension, compensated renal insufficiency and COPD. Despite weight loss and fatigue, the patient did not experience any other constitutional symptoms such as fever, night sweats or loss of appetite. Investigations: Physical examination, blood tests, CT scan of the abdomen, MRI scan of the abdomen, fine needle biopsy, excisional biopsy, Video Capsule Endoscopy, histology, PET scan. Diagnosis: Inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor, chylous ascites, chyloperitoneum. Management: Systemic chemotherapy, total parenteral nutrition and octreotide therapy. CONCLUSION: We describe the case of a patient in whom two extremely rare phenomena are present in combination: the diagnosis of an inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor and chylous ascites. While the tumor could be stabilized by different regimens of chemotherapy, the chyloperitoneum was treated with parenteral nutrition and subcutaneous octreotide injections, which resulted in a significant reduction of the amount of chylous ascites drained during regular paracentesis.