Management of Chyle Leak After Head and Neck Surgery; Our Meritorious Experience in 52 Cases and Review of Literature

Iatrogenic chyle leak is commonly seen when dissection happens very low in neck. Management of chyle leak is conservative with compression dressing, fat restricted diet, somatostatin analogues. Surgery is required in extreme cases with failure of conservative treatment. This is a retrospective observational study carried out from a prospectively maintained database. A total of 6482 head and neck surgeries with neck dissections were carried out between January 2015 till July 2020 at our tertiary cancer center. Out of which there were 52 cases of chyle leak reported post neck dissection. All details regarding age, sex, primary tumor location, surgery performed, level of nodal dissection performed, details related to chyle leak from beginning day and its progression and management offered. The median age in the study group was 42 years (24–70 years). Chyle leak was most commonly seen on left side (88.5%). Low output leaks(n = 43) resolved within a median period of 9 days (5–13 days) period of conservative management. High output leak (n = 9) had leak resolution within a median period of 12 days (7–19 days). Patients who had received preoperative radiotherapy and who had extra nodal extension in lymph nodes had significantly higher incidence of high output leaks. Chyle leak is a rare but serious complication in head and neck surgery. Timely identification and management is crucial. Conservative management is mainstay. Surgical management is instituted in cases of failure of conservative management.