Echocardiographic findings in adolescents with anorexia nervosa at beginning of treatment and after weight recovery.

Anorexia nervosa (AN) is an eating disorder with somatic complications. The aim of the study was to analyse echocardiographic abnormalities in patients with AN at initial examination and after weight restoration. A total of 173 consecutively admitted adolescents (aged 12-17 years), diagnosed with DSM-IV AN (307.1) were evaluated in a child and adolescent psychiatric department of a major university hospital from December 1997 to August 2008. In addition, 40 healthy adolescents of the same age with normal weight were examined. In patients with AN, 34.7% had a pericardial effusion (PE) which was clinically silent. In contrast, none of the controls presented with PE (p < 0.001). No differences across AN subtypes were observed. Patients with PE showed significantly lower body mass index (BMI) (p = 0.016) than patients without PE. They had more prominent low-T3 syndrome (p = 0.003) and longer duration of hospitalisation (p = 0.008) after controlling for BMI at admission. Remission of PE was observed in 88% of the patients after weight restoration. Left ventricular end-diastolic and end-systolic dimensions in AN were significantly lower than in controls (p < 0.001). There were no differences in interventricular septum thickness, posterior wall thickness and fractional shortening. This report indicates that adolescents with AN show cardiac abnormalities in comparison to healthy young women. Furthermore, PE is a frequent cardiac complication in patients with AN and it is associated with BMI, low T3 serum levels and duration of hospitalisation.

Chylopericardium after cardiac surgery can be treated successfully by oral dietary manipulation: a case report.

We report a case of chylopericardium after ascending aorta and aortic valve replacement, which presented as late tamponade. We discuss the various treatment options in this rare condition which can result in serious morbidity or death.

Isolated chylopericardium after intrapericardial procedures: possible role of inadvertent right efferent lymphatic trunk injury.

Chylopericardium after an intrapericardial procedure is rare, and satisfactory explanations of its possible causes are lacking.Herein, we present 4 cases of chylopericardium that developed after intrapericardial surgery, and we review the literature. Our literature review revealed 29 cases of chylopericardium that complicated intrapericardial operations, to which we added our 4 cases for analysis. The 33 surgical procedures involved repair for congenital heart disease (n=21), valve surgery (n=5), coronary artery bypass grafting (n=6), and other (n=1). Causes were verified in 7 patients: small lymphatic injury in 3 and high venous pressure or venous thrombosis in 4. Of the 26 patients with chylopericardium of unknown origin, 15 had congenital heart disease. Ten of these 15 had chromosomal abnormalities, especially trisomy 21 (Down syndrome); these patients typically had increased lymphatic permeability, which raised the likelihood of chylopericardium. Five revascularizations for coronary artery disease required harvesting of the left internal thoracic artery for reconstruction, incurring a risk of damage to the drainage site of the right efferent lymphatic trunk. In addition, all 26 patients with chylopericardium of unknown origin underwent dissection of the ascending aorta and the main pulmonary artery, near the right efferent lymphatic trunk. Inadvertent injury to the trunk during the dissection would have increased the risk of chylopericardium. Accordingly, even though the overall incidence of chylopericardium during intrapericardial procedures is low, we recommend a meticulous dissection of the ascending aorta from the main pulmonary artery.

Management of chylothorax and chylopericardium in pediatric patients: experiences at Siriraj Hospital, Bangkok.

Chylothorax and chylopericardium are rare conditions occurring in infants and children. Both may be traumatic or nontraumatic in origin. We reviewed our experiences with the management of sixteen pediatric cases (10 males, 6 females; 11-days to 14-years old) of chylothorax and chylopericardium from 1997 to 2003. There were fifteen cases of chylothorax (9 left, 2 right, 4 bilateral) and two cases of chylopericardium (1 isolated and 1 associated with chylothorax), and their incidences of occurrence after cardiothoracic surgery were 0.89% and 0.12%, respectively. Of the fifteen cases occurring after cardiothoracic surgery, thirteen patients had corrective or palliative surgery for complex congenital heart disease, and two patients had removal of thymolipoma and neuroblastoma, respectively. Included also in this review was an 11-day old preterm infant with hydrops fetalis and congenital heart disease who developed chylothorax. Characteristics of chylous effusion included a presence of whitish opaque fluid in the pleural cavity and the pericardial cavity, having a triglyceride content ranging from 59 to 1689 mg/dl which was higher than a plasma triglyceride, a protein content of 2.4 to 7.4 g/dl, and a presence of lymphocyte predominance. The average latent period for diagnosis of chylothorax or chylopericardium was 13 days (range 3-30). All patients were treated primarily with nutritional modification using medium-chain triglycerides (MCT) instead of long-chain triglycerides in their diet; and only a few cases needed bowel rest with total parenteral nutrition (TPN). Twelve patients completely responded to a MCT-rich diet; two cases resolved after switching to TPN and another case needed surgery for ligation of lymphatic vessels around the thymus gland. The mean duration of lymph drainage was 12.1 days (range 3-29) and the average length of time of continued conservative treatment (MCT-rich diet and TPN) was 29.8 days (range 18-47). Fourteen patients (87.25%) had good outcome, i.e. resolution from chylothorax or chylopericardium and return to normal diet. Two of the fourteen patients developed severe infections; one was diagnosed with suspected bacterial endocarditis and the other had candidemia. However, both responded well to antibacterial and antifungal drugs, respectively. One case succeeded after surgery. A case that had low compliance with dietary recommendations and required repeated placement of drainage devices died due to infection with enterococcal septicemia. Early and good compliance with MCT-rich diet is essential for achieving a favorable outcome in the management of chylothorax and chylopericardium in children.

Cardiomyopathy and pericardial effusion in infancy point to a fatty acid b-oxidation defect after exclusion of an underlying infection.

Pericardial effusion and cardiomyopathy in the first year of life point to a fatty acid b-oxidation defect as underlying disease after exclusion of infectious causes. We report two patients with the early-onset, cardiac phenotype of very long-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase (VLCAD) deficiency; in one patient, severe pericardial effusion was the predominating symptom. Because specific noninvasive treatment is available in fatty acid b-oxidation defects that reverses cardiomyopathy and pericardial effusion, early diagnosis is essential to adjust therapy accordingly.

Video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery for primary chylopericardium after orthotopic heart transplantation.

Chylopericardium is a rare complication of cardiac surgical procedures. We describe a 41-year-old woman who underwent orthotopic heart transplantation and developed chylopericardium early in the post-operative period. Because of unsuccessful conservative treatment (pericardiocentesis, pericardial drainage, low-fat diet with medium-chain triglycerides, and total parenteral nutrition), surgical intervention was indicated and the patient successfully underwent right-sided thoracoscopic duct ligation and partial pericardiectomy (pericardial window).

A case of the yellow nail syndrome associated with massive chylous ascites, pleural and pericardial effusions.

A 26-year-old male patient with a history of chronic peripheral lymphedema, yellowish coloured slow growing nails and pleural effusions since early childhood is described. After 23 years he developed a chylous ascites and scintigraphy with technetium-99m labeled albumin clearly demonstrated a diffuse protein loss involving the whole jejunum and ileum. Subsequent jejunal and duodenal biopsies showed the typical histological findings of intestinal lymphangiectasia thereby confirming a diffuse intestinal lymphatic damage. In addition to the gastrointestional symptoms the patient developed a pericardial effusion diagnosed by echocardiographic imaging. Dietary treatment with middle chained triglycerides and intravenous human albumin supplementation was followed by the reduction of the ascites and improvement of the peripheral lymphedema. To our knowledge this is the first description of the yellow nail syndrome associated with a diffuse lymphangiectasia involving the whole small bowel.

Primary chylopericardium recovered without surgical treatment.--Report of a case and review of the literature.

A case of 7-year-old girl who had recurrent chylopericardium is presented. She was asymptomatic and physical examination disclosed only enlarged cardiac dullness on percussion and distant cardiac sound on auscultation. In despite of numerous pericardiocentesis, institution of medium-chain triglyceride diet and corticosteroid therapy, chylous pericardial effusion persisted. Four years later the amount of pericardial effusion began to decrease and 5 years later it disappeared completely. Her cardiac size became normal on the chest X-ray. She remained totally asymptomatic throughout the course of this disease. If the patient is asymptomatic and can well tolerate daily life, surgery is not necessarily indicated, and the patients should be treated medically as long as possible. A review of previously reported cases are given.