After mastectomy and axillary node dissection, chylous leakage is rare. However, considerable anatomical variation in the termination of the thoracic duct has been reported. Hence, during breast surgery, injury to the lateral terminating branch is not unlikely and might lead to retrograde chyle leak. Herein, we describe a patient who had a chylous leakage at her wound site after a left simple m...

Chylous leakage is an extremely rare complication of surgery for breast cancer. We experienced a case of chylous leakage after axillary lymph node dissection. A 38-year-old woman with invasive ductal carcinoma in the left breast underwent a modified radical mastectomy after four cycles of neoadjuvant chemotherapy. The postoperative serosanguinous drainage fluid became "milky" on the fourth post...

Chylous ascites is rare in clinical practice. It is characterized by milky-appearing peritoneal fluid with a triglycerides concentration of >1.25 mmol/l (110 mg/dl). Its pathophysiology is related to a disruption in the normal lymphatic flow. It is more common after trauma (including post surgery), neoplasia or atypical infections such as tuberculosis or filariasis. Other rare medical causes ha...

The association of Down's syndrome with congenital non-chylous pleural effusion is described in a preterm infant.

Malignant mesothelioma presenting with recurrent chylous effusion is rare. We describe the case of a 34-year-old female Macedonian immigrant who presented with central chest pain and subsequently a left-sided chylous pleural effusion. The diagnosis was made on pleural biopsy via video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS). Our case demonstrates the utility of thoracic magnetic resonance imaging...

Acute abdominal pain with peritonitis due to sudden extravasation of lymph into the peritoneal cavity is a rare condition that is often mistaken for other causes of acute abdomen. The diagnosis of spontaneous chylous peritonitis is rarely suspected preoperatively, usually misdiagnosed with diverse common surgical emergencies. We report the case of an 81 year old female who presented with typica...

A 47-year-old patient presented with a chylous knee effusion and traumatic infected skin lacerations. The diagnosis of septic arthritis was considered because of purulent looking joint fluid, spuriously high synovial fluid white cell count, and signs of acute knee synovitis. Synovial fluid lipid analysis showed increased total lipids due to high concentration of neutral lipids, mainly triglycer...

Chylothorax or chylous ascites is rare manifestation of tuberculosis. We report a case of simultaneous chylothorax and chylous ascites due to tuberculosis. A 17-year-old girl was admitted with fever, abdominal distention and dyspnea. Chest and abdominal computed tomography revealed bilateral pleural effusion, multifocal nodular consolidation on both lung fields and copious ascites and multiple ...

The authors present a case of a chylous leak after axillary lymph node dissection. Although this case has been treated conservatively, the authors discuss different treatment approaches.