A clinical study of congenital chylothorax and octreotide therapy / 소아과

PURPOSE: Congenital chylothorax is an accumulation of lymphatic fluid within the pleural space. It is a common cause of unidentified hydrops fetalis. We examined the perinatal history, clinical manifestation, diagnosis, treatment, and outcome in 6 newborns diagnosed to have congenital chylothorax with hydrops fetalis. We also studied the effect of octreotide therapy for congenital chylothorax in relation to conservative treatment. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 6 patients diagnosed to have congenital chylothorax with hydrops fetalis among 27,907 newborns who were born at the Cheil General Hospital and Womens Healthcare Center between January 2004 and July 2007 . The diagnosis of chylothorax is based on the analysis of pleural fluid before and after milk feeding. RESULTS: Incidence of congenital chylothorax in this study was 0.021%. All 6 cases were noted in over the 92% lymphocyte in pleural analysis. Transudate was changed into chyle with increasing triglyceride levels above 200 mg/dL after milk feeding. Three of 6 infants improved with conservative treatment, including thoracostomy and assisted ventilation. The others had persistent symptoms despite conservative treatment and responded to octreotide therapy. A complication, specifically vomiting was noted in 1 case during octreotide therapy. CONCLUSION: In this study, octreotide therapy resulted in a safe and excellent outcome. Therefore, octreotide therapy is considered in severe refractory congenital chylothorax in conservative treatment. Further studies are required to determine appropriate guidelines for octreotide therapy.

Two Cases of Tuberous Sclerosis with Cardiac Rhabdomyoma Diagnosed by Prenatal Ultrasound / 대한소아신경학회지

Tuberous Sclerosis is an autosomal-dominant neurocutaneous disorder with a clinical triad of seizures, mental retardation and adenoma sebaceum, and the incidence is approximately one in 15,000 to 30,000 live births. The condition can be suspected if multiple cardiac rhabdomyomas are seen on fetal ultrasound. Tuberous sclerosis was subsequently confirmed by the brain ultrasound and MRI which revealed multiple nodules in the subcortical, subependymal or periventricular areas. We experienced two cases of antenatal tuberous sclerosis was diagnosed by ultrasound. One case was diagnosed with tuberous sclerosis at birth, the other case was confirmed with tuberous sclerosis during follow up brain ultrasound. We report these cases with brief review of related literatures.