Chylothorax: a complication following lung resection in patients with NSCLC - chylothorax following lung resection

Chylothorax following lung resection is not as rare as a postoperative complication as previously reported due to systematic lymph node dissection in patients undergoing lung resection for NSCLC.

We retrospectively reviewed our cases that had undergone lung resection for NSCLC and investigated the frequency and outcome of chylothorax in these patients. The factors investigated were the site and type resection, technique of systematic lymph node dissection, tumour histology and disease stage.

Seven of 673 patients that had undergone lung resection were complicated by chylothorax (1.04 %), following lobectomy in 5 (1.28 %) and pneumonectomy in 2 (0.7 %) (p = 0.36). The fistula closed spontaneously in 5 patients between 4 - 17 days postoperatively (71 %). One of the patients in the conservative management group died on the 28th day postoperatively due to pneumonia (14 %). The remaining 2 patients underwent rethoracotomy on the 5th and 6th days.

These results suggest that the site of operation, type resection, and technique of systematic nodal dissection, tumour histology and disease stage do not influence the development of chylothorax in patients with NSCLC. The chylous fistula following lung resection for NSCLC tends to close spontaneously.