• V Mouravas, O Dede, H Hatziioannidis, I Spyridakis, and A Filippopoulos.
• 2 Department of Pediatric Surgery, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, General Hospital "Papageorgiou", Thessaloniki, Greece.
• Hippokratia. 2012 Apr 1; 16 (2): 175180175-80.

BackgroundCongenital chylous ascites is a rare condition that constitutes a challenge for the physician. It is defined as the accumulation of chyle into the peritoneal cavity in infants younger than 3 months. This condition is often refractory to therapy and it is responsible for serious malnutrition and immunological deficiency because of the loss of proteins and lymphocytes.Material And MethodsFour cases of congenital neonatal chylous ascites, were treated by our staff during the last two years. One case was treated conservatively and three with laparotomy. Two of them had intraabdominal cysts that were excised and one was treated with ligation of the left lumbar lymphatic trunk and cisterna chyli and the use of fibrin glue.ResultsAll four cases were treated successfully. On follow up tests no one showed recurrence of the ascites. All children, except the one that treated conservatively and also had other problems due to prematurity, are growing up normally.ConclusionsCongenital chylous ascites is a complex condition. Its diagnostic evaluation is difficult and its therapy of long duration. Conservative treatment is in most cases the initial choice, but when it fails, exploratory laparotomy could provide a successful alternative.

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