Efficacy of octreotide against chylothorax following lateral neck dissection for thyroid cancer: A case report

INTRODUCTION: 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. PRESENTATION OF CASE: 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. DISCUSSION: Octreotide is effective against postsurgical chylothorax; however, if there are no signs of improvement, we believe surgical treatment should be considered. CONCLUSION: Octreotide should be administered first to treat postsurgical chylothorax before surgical treatment is considered.