Extracorporeal peritoneovenous shunt for the management of postaneurysmectomy chylous ascites in a Marfan patient.

Chylous ascites is an uncommon complication after aortic and other retroperitoneal surgeries. The management is very specific to the etiology and clinical status of the patient. The mortality from chylous ascites is not negligible, and aggressive measures are often needed. A voluminous chylous ascites developed in a 38-year-old woman after an open abdominal aortic aneurysm repair that was refractive to initial therapeutic interventions. We used an extracorporeal peritoneovenous shunt to control the abdominal ascites and improve the patient's immunologic and nutritional status.