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Turkish Archives of Pediatrics, vol.58, no.1, pp.28-33, 2023 (Scopus)
© 2023, AVES. All rights reserved.Objective: Chylothorax refers to the presence of chyle in the pleural space. There are mul-tiple etiologies of chylothorax. Our aim in this study was to evaluate the clinical manifestations, causes, and treatment of chylothorax in childhood and also to show the differences between the 2 age groups admitted to a tertiary care children’s hospital. The second aim was to evaluate the clinical and radiologic features of patients diagnosed as having Gorham-Stout disease via chylothorax. Materials and Methods: The archives were reviewed for chylothorax documented in the last 31 years. Twenty-two patients (11 girls and 11 boys) were included. Patients were divided into 2 groups: the younger group aged under 24 months and the older group aged over 24 months. Results: A total of 22 patients had chylothorax, and 10 were aged younger than 24 months. In the younger group, etiologies were in order congenital heart surgery, congenital chylothorax, and Gorham-Stout disease. In the older group, etiologies were Gorham-Stout disease, congenital heart surgery, heart failure, heart transplantation, thrombus, intestinal lymphangiecta-sia, and idiopathic. The most common treatment in the younger group was the medium-chain triglyceride diet (70%), and in the older group, it was sirolimus (50%). Conclusion: There is a wide variety of underlying etiologies in childhood, so a multidisciplinary approach is important to identify the underlying diagnosis. The common etiologies were postoperative and Gorham-Stout disease in our study. All patients with Gorham-Stout disease had a good prognosis. Gorham-Stout disease should be considered in patients of any age with a diagnosis of chylothorax who have bone lesions.