Intraoperative determination of thoracic duct injury with 131I-fat. An experimental study on dogs

The creation of an experimental animal model of traumatic chylothorax was verified by 131I labelled fat (peanut oil). 15 dogs of 3 groups were administered 131I labelled oil via a gastric tube. The results were compared between the two experimental groups and a control group with nonchylous pleural effusion. Dynamic radioactive studies on the blood and pleural fluid showed that the absorption curve of the dog's blood and chyle to 131I labelled oil was identical regardless of different attitudes, and was also similar to that of the human blood because the peak appeared 4 hours after the administration of 131I labelled oil, at which the radioactivity of chyle reached its maximum, more powerful than that of the blood collected at the same time (P less than 0.01). The 99% confidence limitation of radioactivity of the pleural fluid, and the radioactivity ratio of the pleural fluid to blood in the experimental groups were 1.8-10.5 and 493-2340 cpm respectively. The specific characteristics of chyle was then determined qualitatively according to the quantitative norms. We conclude that the technique is parallel with the normal physiological pattern and seems to be more simple and reliable than the conventional methods for detection of intraoperative injury of the thoracic duct and early diagnosis of postoperative chylothorax.