This Article  • References  • Full text PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citation map  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in this journal  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

DEAN D. SMITH, M.D.; EDWARD WOLIVER, M.D.

Arch Surg. 1941;43(4):627-632.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

Traumatic chylothorax is a relatively rare condition. In a recent comprehensive review of the subject, Shackelford and Fisher¹ were able to collect only 43 authentic cases. They not only emphasized the rarity of traumatic chylothorax but also stressed the difficulty both of making an early diagnosis and of treating this condition. The reported mortality is approximately 50 per cent in spite of the various methods of therapy.

The causation of chylothorax has been summarized by McNab and Scarlett² as follows:

I. Trauma

a. Closed trauma

1. Without fracture of bone

2. Accompanied by fracture of ribs, clavicle or vertebrae

b. Operative wounds

1. Duct severed

2. One or more terminals severed

c. Gunshot or stab wounds

II. New growth or granuloma outside the duct: carcinoma, lymphosarcoma, tuberculous glands

III. Thrombosis of the left subclavian vein

IV. New growth within the duct

V. Perforating lymphangitis

VI. Aneurysm of the . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Author Affiliations
CINCINNATI

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?