[Idiopathic unilateral chylothorax]

A 40-year-old female patient developed spontaneous right-sided chylothorax which after a single thoracocentesis did not relapse. Available examination methods did not reveal the cause of the disease. From the clinical course it may be assumed that the chyle drainage was impaired in the thoracic duct or in a minor lymphatic vessel by subclinical injury, whereby the damage obviously was small, capable of spontaneous closure and healing. The authors present some contemporary views on the pathogenesis, diagnosis and treatment of this rare disease.