Serum and chyle lipids during medium-chain triglyceride feeding in a child with chylothorax.

Because fatty acids with carbon chain lengths below 12 are absorbed almost wholly into the portal venous system, medium-chain triglycerides (MCT), which contain these shorter chain fatty acids, have been used in the treatment of chylothorax and chylous ascites (Fernandes, Van de Kamer, and Weijers, 1955; Hashim et al., 1964; Frank et al., 1966; Poley et al., 1967). In 3 of the 4 patients reported the volume of chylous fluid diminished; in all patients the concentration of lipid in the fluid decreased and only small quantities of mediumchain fatty acids were detected. This paper reports studies of both chyle and serum lipids in a child with a traumatic chylothorax during treatment with MCT.