Intraoperative chylous leak diagnosis by preoperative oral administration of ice cream: a case report

Chylothorax is an intractable postoperative complication of thoracic surgery. Preventing postoperative chylothorax following initial surgery is important. Most cases of chylothorax are caused by injury to the thoracic duct or its branches. However, rare cases might result from injury to the lymphatic vessels in the chest wall. Preoperative oral administration of dairy products is widely recognized as a useful method for identifying the sites of chylous leaks during surgery for chylothoraces. Herein, we report a surgical case of a middle mediastinal tumor, wherein a chylous leak in the chest wall was intraoperatively detected due to scheduled preoperative oral administration of dairy products before the initial surgery, resulting in prevented postoperative chylothorax.

A 68-year-old male patient underwent computed tomography, revealing a cystic lesion in the middle mediastinum that was suspected to be a thoracic duct cyst or intrathoracic lymphangioma. A cup of ice cream was orally ingested 1 hour before entering the operating room to intraoperatively detect chylous leakage in case of injury to the lymphatic vessels, including the thoracic duct. The mediastinal tumor was removed via thoracoscopic surgery and histologically diagnosed as a schwannoma with cystic degeneration. Intraoperatively, chylous leakage was observed due to injury to a lymphatic vessel in the chest wall, which was repaired by clipping. The postoperative course was uneventful.

Preoperative oral administration of dairy products was verified to be a useful method not only at the time of re-operation for postoperative chylothoraces but also at the time of initial surgery in cases where chylothorax is of high concern. Although relatively infrequent, chylothorax due to lymphatic vessel injury in the chest wall should be kept in mind.