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Charles B. Higgins, MD; Donald G. Mulder, MD
University of California Los Angeles

JAMA. 1970;211(7):1188.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

To the Editor:—

A remarkable clinical feature of chylothorax is the long latent interval which may exist between the time of injury and the onset of chylous pleural effusion.^1-4 This is believed to be due to the gradual accumulation of chyle localized to the posterior mediastinum. The chyloma which forms finally ruptures the mediastinal pleura producing a pleural effusion.³

Such a long latent period was recently noted in four patients who had chylothorax after operations for correction of congenital cardiac defects. The interval between ductal injury and detection of chylothorax varied from eight days to six weeks. In each of these patients, roentgenograms of the chest during this period demonstrated considerable enlargement of the cardiomediastinal shadow ( Fig 1 and 2). Chyle is sufficiently radiopaque to be seen as a fluid collection in the posterior mediastinum on roentgenograms of the chest. This cardiomediastinal enlargement decreased considerably in all four . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

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