A CASE OF IDIOPATHIC CHYLOPNEUMOTHORAX ASSOCIATED WITH A MALIGNANT LYMPHOMA

Chylopneumothorax is a pathologic condition in which chyle is deviated from the thoracic duct and pools in the thoracic cavity. Idiopathic chylopnenmothorax with unknown cause is extremely rare. We encountered such a rare case, in which recurred chylopneumothorax after a temporal cure of the disease by surgery was successfully treated by anastomosis of pleura, however, in the observation period after the second surgery, a malignant lymphoma was found in the pharynx. Lymphography showed a back current to the Hilus of the lung, which suggested a possible participation of the vulve dysfunction of lymph node in the mechanisms of the onset of chylopneumothorax. In addition, lymphocytes subpopulation in the thoracic fluid of recurred chylopneumothorax involved predominantly an immature T cell OKT10, accompanied by an increase in 4/8 due to a decrease in OKT8 compared to peripheral blood. OKT series in the thoracic fluid in chylopneumothorax in infants were well coincided with blood OKT3, 4, and 8 values in this case. The reason why lymphokine-activated killer (LAK) activity of periopheral mononuclear cells was higher than that of the mononuclear cells in the thoracic fluid appeared that OKT8 might decrease in the thoracic fluid, which meaned that the antitumor activity of the mononuclear cells in the fluid might be declined.