The chyloesophageal fistula. A new approach to thoracic duct drainage

The main reason for the virtual abandonment of external thoracic duct drainage as an immunosuppressive measure is not its lack of efficacy, but the time-consuming technical problems of maintaining cannula patency and replacing the large obligatory losses of fluid and protein. In an effort to overcome these problems we have devised a method of diverting thoracic duct lymph internally into the esophagus of the sheep, our hypothesis being that fluid and protein should be resorbed, but lymphocytes and antibodies destroyed. By isolating that part of the venous system into which the thoracic duct drains and anastomosing this conduit to the cervical esophagus a chyloesophageal fistula was created. A mean patency of 19 days was demonstrated radiologically and there was a reproducible peripheral blood lymphopenia of over 50% of preoperative values at 4 weeks. Although plasma albumin levels fell from 37 g/L to 29 g/L at 1 week, they remained stable thereafter. No parenteral fluid or protein was administered, yet the animals remained well with no significant weight loss or overt signs of dehydration or hypoproteinemia. Skin allograft mean survival time was prolonged from 9 to 11.8 days (P less than 0.01).