[Chyluria treated with stripping of the renal pedicle: a case report]

A 54-year-old male was referred to our outpatient clinic because of milky urine. He had lived in Kumamoto, an area of endemic filariasis. There were no microfilaria found in his blood smear. Lymphangiography showed dilation of the retroperitoneal lymphatics and bilateral renal refluxes. The thoracic duct was obvious. The initial treatment consisted of irrigating the bilateral renal pelvis with silver nitrate solution, but was not successful and recurrent acute urinary retention developed. Therefore, we performed stripping and ligation of the bilateral renal lymphatics. Chyluria disappeared immediately after surgery. The etiology and various treatments for chyluria are discussed.