Bilateral chylothorax caused by pleuropulmonary lymphangiomyomatosis: A challenging problem in thoracic surgery

Massive left-sided pleural effusion in a 35-year-old man was initially diag nosed as idiopathic spontaneous chylothorax and treated with serial thorace nteses and left thoracotomy. Six weeks later, a right thoracotomy was perfo rmed for contralateral chylothorax, and histologic examination revealed lym phangiomyomatosis. The patient survived this rare and potentially fatal dis ease. We have found no previously published case of bilateral lymphangiomyo matosis treated with separate thoracotomies because of bilateral chylothora x.