Benign thoracic schwannoma and postoperative chylothorax: case report and review of the literature.

Among all the neurogenic tumours, the benign intrathoracic schwannoma is a rare tumour. Most often it is discovered by accident in the course of a routine X-ray examination of the thorax. Symptoms appear only when size becomes important. The surgical removal of an intrathoracic schwannoma may result in the development of a chylothorax. According to the literature, its treatment remains controversial. The originality of the case we report here is on the one hand the exceptional size of the tumour and the success over the long term of conservative treatment with complete parenteral alimentation, and on the other hand, the inefficacy of the subcutaneous administration of the analogue of somatostatin in reducing a chylothorax with high outflow.