Ligation of the thoracic duct without thoracotomy for the treatment of postoperative chylothorax: a newly designed surgical procedure.

A newly designed surgical procedure of ligation of the thoracic duct without thoracotomy for the treatment of postoperative chylothorax is presented. A case of chylothorax following resection of carcinoma of the oesophagus was treated successfully with ligation of the thoracic duct without thoracotomy. Its advantages were very prominent consisting of maintenance of the integrity of the thorax, less traumatization, no need of a drainage tube and shorter hospitalization, much easier to expose the thoracic duct than the conventional transthoracic approach. We can find no similar report in any published literature.