[Chylothorax: a rare complication of transaxillary thoracic sympathectomy].

Transaxillary upper thoracic sympathectomy is a safe surgical procedure for the treatment of palmar hyperhidrosis. Although thoracic complications such as hemothorax and pneumothorax occasionally occur following this procedure chylothorax is an extremely rare complication. From 1978 to 1991, 215 consecutive patients underwent upper thoracic sympathectomy for the treatment of palmar hyperhidrosis in our institution. We report the surgical management of one patient who developed an intractable chylous fistula which did not respond to non-surgical treatment. Attempts at non-surgical management of the disease, with aspiration therapy, tube thoracostomy and the administration of medium chain triglyceride diet, should be tried first. If, however, this is not successful within two weeks, one should not wait for further metabolic and nutritional impairment before instituting surgical treatment. We believe that proximal thoracic duct ligation is a relatively simple and effective means of controlling chylothorax.