1 Nov 2011Case Report
Chylous ascites following laparoscopic living donor nephrectomy. Case report
Massimiliano Gagliano 1Pierfrancesco Veroux 1Daniela Corona 1Matteo Cannizzaro 1Giuseppe Giuffrida 1Alessia Giaquinta 1Massimiliano Veroux 1
Affiliations
Article Info
1 Vascular Surgery and Organ Transplant Unit, Department of Surgery, Transplantation and Advanced technologies, University Hospital of Catania, Italy
Ann. Ital. Chir., 2011, 82(6), 499-503;
Published: 1 Nov 2011
Copyright © 2011 Annali Italiani di Chirurgia
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Abstract
Kidney transplantation is a therapeutic option of choice for patients with end-stage disease. Laparoscopic living donor nephrectomy (LLDN) is a less invasive alternative to the open procedure to increase the number of renal donors. However, several studies have reported that this technique requires a long learning curve, and that the complication rate varies from 6.4% to 16.5%. Among these, chylous ascites (CA) is a severe and rare complications of LLDN. The treatment option for this condition is primari1y conservative. Surgery is considered after failure of conservative treatment and its role, however, remains controversial. We report a case of CA as a complication of laparoscopic donor nephrectomy. A 44 year old woman underwent LLDN of the left kidney. There were no intraoperative or immediate postoperative complications and the patient was discharged home on postoperative day 3. Two weeks after discharge, the patient returned for a routine follow-up visit and presented with abdominal distension, discomfort, and dyspnea. A CT scan of the abdomen with oral and intravenous contrast revealed significant ascites in all four quadrants of abdomen and pelvis. An ultrasound guided paracentesis was performed, and 7 L of chyle was aspirated. Conservative management with medium chain triglyceride and spironolactone was immediately initiated; the symptoms improved after paracentesis, and the CA completely resolved after 3 days of therapy. However, to prevent recurrence, the patient consumed a low -fat medium chain triglyceride diet for 6 months. CA needs to be considered as a potential severe and rare complication of LLDN, and conservative management should be proposed to all patients, reserving the surgical treatment to treatment failure.
Keywords
- Chylous ascites
- Laparoscopic living donor nephrectomy
- Kidney transplantation