Chylothorax after coronary artery bypass surgery. Report of a case and review of the literature

Chylothorax after coronary artery bypass grafting is a rare complication and leads to increased mortality and morbidity. Because of the rarity of this complication, its management is debatable. We present the case of a 41 years old male patient who had a left sided chylothorax after coronary artery bypass grafting. The patient was managed conservatively with low fat diet and drainage of the chylothorax. A thorough search of the literature published on the subject was done and treatment strategies employed by various authors were studied. Various treatment options are conservative management with chest tube drainage, octreotide and low-fat diet or diet containing medium chain triglycerides. Invasive options are video assisted thoracoscopy and thoracotomy with or without ligation of thoracic duct. An account of the management strategies employed by various authors is presented in this report.