Chylothorax and Chylous-Like Diseases in Children: Clinical Management

Background: Chylothorax and chylous-like diseases are rare conditions and difficult to treat. But they may represent potentially life-threatening disorders and important causes of morbidity and prolonged hospitalization, especially in critically ill children. Conservative as well as surgical therapeutic management strategies are continuously performed at our institution, however the results have never been evaluated and no guidelines for treatment recommendations have been put into practice so far. The objective of this retrospective study was to present a comprehensive and substantial evaluation of all relevant demographic data from children with the chylothorax and chylous-like diseases and their clinical management. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed data from all children with diagnoses of chylothorax and chylous-like diseases admitted to our pediatric intensive care unit between the years 1999 and 2012. Results: Data of 34 patients were analyzed for this study. Gender distribution (M/F) was almost equal (19/15; 56%/44%). Thirty-one children (91%) developed chylothorax after surgery. Two children (6%) had idiopathic chylothorax and in one child (3%) congenital chylothorax was diagnosed. All study patients (n = 34; 100%) received MBF/MCT therapy. We were quite successful in treating 14 children who received only this therapy, with chest tube output dropping from 100 to 4.7%. But only 11 (32%) children received somatostatin and 7 (20%) children received beta-isodona. Different surgical interventions were performed in 6 patients (17%). All study patients received chest tubes to drain the pleural fluid and hence to relieve the chyle related symptoms. Conclusion: A combination of different conservative therapies was successful in most of our patients. Prevention, early diagnosis and treatment of potential complications may further improve the success rate of conservative therapy especially in patients with postoperative chylothorax. In summary, appropriate therapy of this condition may be lengthy but can prevent significant morbidity and mortality.