Vnitr Lek 2020, 66(7):e43-e45 | DOI: 10.36290/vnl.2020.139

A rare coincidence of a chylothorax and a hydrothorax caused by gastric adenocarcinoma - a case report

Nela Šťastná^1,2, Kristián Brat^1,2

¹ Klinika nemocí plicních a TBC, Fakultní nemocnice Brno

² Lékařská fakulta Masarykovy univerzity, Brno

We present a case report of a 74-years old patient with a finding of bilateral pleural effusion due to a different fluid composition caused by gastric adenocarcinoma. The finding of a bilateral effusion, where the exudate fluid is of a different chemical composition, is a rare phenomenon. While the right-sided exudate had the characteristics of hydrothorax, the left-sided exudate had those of chylothorax. The initial suspicion of a lung tumor was not confirmed, and further examination surprisingly revealed gastric adenocarcinoma. The patient did not benefit from targeted oncological treatment for a long time and the chemotherapy was terminated after 3 cycles. The cause of right-sided hydrothorax is therefore attributed to hypalbuminemia and secondary pneumonia, left-sided chylothorax was a primo-manifestation of gastric adenocarcinoma. There is only a small number of similar case reports of patients with gastric tumor and chylothorax in the literature. While the recorded cases were mostly Asian ethnic patients, the course of their illness - including survival - was almost strikingly similar (and unfavorable).

Keywords: gastric adenocarcinoma, chylothorax, bilateral pleural effusion.

Published: November 3, 2020  Show citation