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Published on: February 28, 2025
[Treatment of chyle leak following radical resection for colorectal cancer]
Xing-rong Lu1, Hui-ming Lin, Pan Chi
1Department of Colorectal Surgery, Union Hospital, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou 350001, China.
Objective:
To investigate the treatment of chyle leak following radical resection for colorectal cancer.
Methods:
The incidence of chyle leak was compared between the different surgical approaches (open vs. laparoscopic) as well as different tumor locations (right, left colon or rectum) in 1259 patients undergoing radical resection for colorectal cancer.
Results:
Overall incidence of chyle leak was 3.6% (46/1259) after surgery. Forty-five patients were successfully managed by conservative treatment and one patient required re-operation. No patients died. The incidence of chyle leak was not significantly different between the open (3.2%, 18/570) and laparoscopic (4.1%, 28/689) groups (P>0.05). However, right colectomy was associated with a significantly higher rate of chyle leak (9.6%, 16/167) as compared to left colectomy(2.6%, 7/268) and anterior resection (2.8%, 23/824) (P<0.05).
Conclusions:
Conservative treatment is effective in early stage of chyle leak after radical resection for colorectal cancer. Right colectomy is associated with higher risk for chyle leak.