Lymphatic Intervention for Abdominal Lymphatic Leakage

Abstract

One of the important functions of the lymphatic system is maintenance of fluid balance, and lymphatic leakage after surgery potentially becomes a critical condition.
Interventional techniques could not treat lymphatic leakage effectively mostly due to the lack of clinical imaging. However, the recently developed intranodal lymphangiography provides new insight into lymphatic intervention. At first, thoracic duct embolization has become the method of choice for the treatment of patients with chylothorax. Abdominal lymphatic leakage as a complication of abdominal and pelvic surgery is an uncommon but difficult-to-treat condition when conservative measures have failed. Embolization and sclerotherapy are also very useful for refractory lymphatic leakage. These current advances will open up new treatments and diag-nostic opportunities for abdominal lymphatic leakage.