Modern management of chylous leak following head and neck surgery: a discussion of percutaneous lymphangiography-guided cannulation and embolization of the thoracic duct.

High-output chylous leak beyond 5 to 7 days of conservative medical treatment should be treated promptly to avoid the risk for nutritional and imunologic depletion. Given the effectiveness and low morbidity of this minimally invasive treatment, this is a reasonable first option before surgical repair of thoracic duct leak not responsive to conservative medical treatment.