Abstract:

Chylothorax is defined by the presence of chyle in the pleural cavity. The diagnosis is mainly based on the dosage of triglycerides and/or the detection of chylomicrons in the pleural fluid. The most common causes of chylothorax are traumatic, mainly following surgery. Among the non-traumatic causes, we frequently find tumors and in particular lymphomas. The first-line treatment is conservative and consists of pleural drainage associated with a low-fat diet. We report the case of a 78-year-old man with rest dyspnoea, in whom the pleuropulmonary examination found a bilateral fluid effusion syndrome, the exploratory pleural puncture showed the presence of sero-sanguinous fluid, exudative with a triglyceride levels = 626 mg/dl in the left and 455 mg/dl in the right . The diagnosis of small B-cell lymphocytic-type lymphoma was retained following an anatomopathologic study of the adenectomy specimen.

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