[Current treatment of chylothorax: a report of ten cases]

Chylothorax is an uncommon disease resulting from many factors, all of which cause damage to the thoracic duct or its main collectors. The incidence of this disease has increased over the years due to increasing heart and thoracic surgery, in these cases ranging from 0.2% to 0.5%. Its aetiology also includes thoracic traumatic injury, lymphatic neoplasms and inflammatory disease. Over the period considered we observed more than 9000 thoracic patients, ten of whom presented chylothorax, due to a variety of causes. Diagnostic instrumental procedures and clinical investigations enabled us to develop a personalised therapeutic strategy for each case, related to the particular causes responsible for the condition. Most of the patients observed were treated successfully with a non-invasive approach. In two cases surgery (duct ligature and lymphangioma debulking) was performed with positive results. The postoperative course was uneventful with an average hospital stay of 13 days (range: 7-24 days).