Management of chyle leakage after thyroidectomy, cervical lymph node dissection, in patients with thyroid cancer.
BACKGROUND
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the incidence and pattern of chyle leakage after thyroidectomy and/or cervical lymph node dissection and to establish management protocols for chyle leakage.


METHODS
Patients who underwent surgical management for thyroid cancer were analyzed retrospectively.


RESULTS
For this study, 131 patients with chyle leakage were identified; the overall incidence was 0.9%. Of them, 43.7% of patients underwent central neck dissection without lateral neck dissection, and chyle leakage was easily controlled with conservative management. Patients whose chyle drainage was reduced by >50% after dietary modification had a significantly shorter hospital stay (P < .001); NPO was the most effective dietary modification.


CONCLUSION
The occurrence of chyle leakage after central compartment dissection even without lateral neck dissection was not rare, but was easily controlled with conservative management. Surgical management should be considered if the drainage amount does not decrease by >50% of the original amount of the day of detection after 2 days of NPO.
['Park|Inhye|I|http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2283-4802', 'Her|Nayoon|N|', 'Choe|Jun-Ho|JH|', 'Kim|Jee Soo|JS|', 'Kim|Jung-Han|JH|']
D000328:Adult D000368:Aged D057868:Anastomotic Leak D002913:Chyle D015331:Cohort Studies D000072700:Conservative Treatment D004322:Drainage D005260:Female D005500:Follow-Up Studies D006801:Humans D016014:Linear Models D008197:Lymph Node Excision D008297:Male D008875:Middle Aged D037981:Neck Dissection D011183:Postoperative Complications D056910:Republic of Korea D012189:Retrospective Studies D062606:Tertiary Care Centers D013964:Thyroid Neoplasms D013965:Thyroidectomy D016896:Treatment Outcome
chyle leakage conservative management dietary modification thoracic duct ligation