Sarcoidosis Complicated by Chylothorax

Abstract

Chylothorax is a rare complication of sarcoidosis; only one well-documented case has been described previously. Before chylothorax is diagnosed in a patient with sarcoidosis, infection and malignancy need to be aggressively excluded as possible diagnoses. We report the case of a 34-year-old black woman with sarcoidosis confirmed by lung, pleural, and mediastinal lymph node biopsies whose clinical course was complicated by chylothorax. Oral corticosteroid treatment resulted in prompt resolution of the chylothorax.