Conservative treatment of postoperative chylothorax with octreotide

Chylothorax is a rare but serious and well-recognized complication of general thoracic and cardiac procedures. No new invasive or non-invasive definitive therapies are available. This article reports the case of a 67-year-old woman who underwent myocardial revascularization and who developed a postoperative chylothorax necessitating continuous drainage and conservative management. When after 1 week this treatment still had not resolved the chylothorax, octreotide was instituted, leading to a rapid cessation of chyle production and rendering surgical management of this complication unnecessary.