Chylothorax and re-expansion pulmonary edema following myocardial re-vascularization: role of lymph vessel insufficiency

Marc Riquet; Jalal Assouad; Nicola D'Attellis; Iradj Gandjbakhch

doi:10.1016/j.icvts.2004.03.001

Chylothorax and re-expansion pulmonary edema following myocardial re-vascularization: role of lymph vessel insufficiency

Interact Cardiovasc Thorac Surg. 2004 Sep;3(3):423-5. doi: 10.1016/j.icvts.2004.03.001.

Authors

Marc Riquet¹, Jalal Assouad, Nicola D'Attellis, Iradj Gandjbakhch

Affiliation

¹ Department of Thoracic Surgery, Georges Pompidou European hospital, 20 rue Leblanc, 75908 Paris cedex 15, France. marc.riquet@hop.egp.ap-hop-paris.fr

PMID: 17670279
DOI: 10.1016/j.icvts.2004.03.001

Abstract

Chylothorax is a rare complication following coronary artery bypass graft surgery. In the following case, we report a chylothorax complicating left internal mammary artery harvesting due to injury of the left anterior mediastinal lymph node chain (LAMLNC) at the level of the proximal pedicle of the mammary artery. Re-expansion pulmonary edema occurred during re-operation for chylothorax following suturing of this lymph node chain. This observation demonstrates the role of the LAMLNC in both complications when injured or interrupted.