Thoracic duct injury during esophagectomy: 20 years experience at a tertiary care center in a developing country

Thoracic duct injury is an uncommon complication of esophagectomy. Experience in managing these cases is limited to large centers performing esophagectomies in good numbers. We analyzed the prospectively maintained esophageal diseases database of patients presenting to a surgical unit between 1982 and 2002. Among 552 esophagectomies during this period we had encountered 14 cases of chylothorax (2.54%). We analyzed the type and site of lesion and the impact of neoadjuvant therapy on the incidence of thoracic duct injury. Among 459 patients of transhiatal esophagectomy, 11 developed postoperative chylothorax (2.40%). In 93 transthoracic resections, there were three cases of chylothorax (3.23%; (P = 0.9185)). The incidence following preoperative radiotherapy was 2.17%. None of the 31 patients, who had undergone esophagectomy for benign diseases had developed chylothorax. In the carcinoma group the incidence in middle third lesions was 5.85% and in lower third lesions was 0.80% (P = 0.0018). Seven patients were managed conservatively. Two of these patients, for whom surgery had been planned, died before they could be taken up for surgery. In the remaining seven patients transthoracic ligation of the thoracic duct was performed. Two patients in this group died. The average hospital stay was 20 days in the conservative group and 12 days in the surgery group. Among the factors studied, patients with middle third lesions were at increased risk of developing postoperative chylothorax, when compared to upper or lower third lesions.