ABSTRACT

In the neonatal period, the most common cause of pleural effusion is idiopathic congenital chylothorax. Congenital chylothorax is rarely associated with chromosomal abnormalities, such as Down, Turner and Noonan syndromes. The diagnosis can be made after analysis of the pleural fluid drained by thoracentesis or chest tube placement. During the neonatal period, chylothorax treatment is composed of conservative and surgical therapies. Nowadays, for cases among which conservative therapies fail, treatment with octreotide has been reported to be beneficial with promising results. In this report, a case of congenital chylothorax, in a newborn with Down syndrome, treated by octreotide after failure of chest tube drainage and medical treatment (total parenteral nutrition and medium chain fatty acid formula) is presented.