chylothorax
Sign in to saveAlso known as chyle leak
A chylothorax is an abnormal accumulation of chyle, a type of lipid-rich lymph, in the pleural space surrounding the lung. The lymphatic vessels of the digestive system normally return lipids absorbed from the small bowel via the thoracic duct, which ascends behind the esophagus to drain into the left brachiocephalic vein. If normal thoracic duct drainage is disrupted, either due to obstruction or rupture, chyle can leak and accumulate within the negative-pressured pleural space. In people on a normal diet, this fluid collection can sometimes be identified by its turbid, milky white appearance
Key facts
- Medical condition (new).name
- Chylothorax
- Medical condition (new).image
- Chylothorax.jpg
- Medical condition (new).caption
- Three bottles of chyle drained from a chylothorax
- Medical condition (new).field
- Respiratory medicine
- Medical condition (new).symptoms
- None, breathlessness
- Medical condition (new).complications
- Dehydration, malnutrition, abnormal electrolyte levels, weakened immune system
- Medical condition (new).types
- Low output, high output
- Medical condition (new).causes
- Complication of surgery, trauma, cancer, infections, lymph vessel abnormalities
- Medical condition (new).diagnosis
- X-ray, CT scan, thoracic MRI, fluid sampling
- Medical condition (new).treatment
- Removing fat from the diet, decreasing lymph flow, chest tube, surgery
- Medical condition (new).medication
- Octreotide, midodrine, and sirolimus
- Medical condition (new).prognosis
- ~10% risk of death
via Wikipedia infobox
Research
5,279 papers- Multidisciplinary Management of Chylothorax.Chest · 2022
- Chylothorax.Clinics in chest medicine · 2025
- Chylothorax and Pseudochylothorax.Clinics in chest medicine · 2021
- Chylothorax.The Netherlands journal of medicine · 2000
- [Chylothorax].Zentralblatt fur Chirurgie · 2024
via PubMed
Wikidata facts
- Image
- Blausen 0993 PleuralEffusionNumbers.png
Show 3 more facts
- Commons category
- Chylothorax
- exact match
- purl.obolibrary.org/obo/HP_0010310
- NCI Thesaurus ID
- C79546
Sources (7)
via Wikidata · CC0
~15 min read
Article
17 sectionsContents
- Signs and symptoms
- Causes
- Non-traumatic
- Traumatic
- Mechanism
- Diagnosis
- Treatment
- Initial
- Conservative
- Surgical
- Prognosis
- Complications
- Epidemiology
- Other animals
- Horses
- References
- External links
A chylothorax is an abnormal accumulation of chyle, a type of lipid-rich lymph, in the pleural space surrounding the lung. The lymphatic vessels of the digestive system normally return lipids absorbed from the small bowel via the thoracic duct, which ascends behind the esophagus to drain into the left brachiocephalic vein. If normal thoracic duct drainage is disrupted, either due to obstruction or rupture, chyle can leak and accumulate within the negative-pressured pleural space. In people on a normal diet, this fluid collection can sometimes be identified by its turbid, milky white appearance, since chyle contains emulsified triglycerides.
Chylothorax is a rare but serious condition, as it signals leakage of the thoracic duct or one of its tributaries. There are many treatments, both surgical and conservative. About 2–3% of all fluid collections surrounding the lungs (pleural effusions) are chylothoraces. It is important to distinguish a chylothorax from a pseudochylothorax (a pleural effusion that happens to be high in cholesterol), which has a similar appearance visually but is caused by more chronic inflammatory processes and requires a different treatment.