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Chylothorax in chronic lymphocytic leukemia patient
Clinton H Doerr1, Bruce A Staats, Svetomir N Markovic
1Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota 55905, USA. doerr.clinton@mayo.edu
Abstract:
Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is rarely complicated by chylothorax: we present a 93-year-old woman with CLL who developed recurrent pleural effusions that were ultimately found to be chylous in nature. Despite eight repeated thoracenteses, she continued to experience re-accumulation of fluid, and therefore, video-assisted thoracotomy with mass ligation of the thoracic duct region plus pleurodesis was performed to resolve the chylothorax. Despite her age and underlying disease, she did well during follow-up. The etiology and management of chylothorax are also reviewed.