Chylothorax complicating extrathoracic sarcoidosis

Clinically significant pleural effusion is an extremely rare manifestation of sarcoidosis. Chylothorax associated with sarcoidosis is an even rarer phenomenon reported in the literature only as individual cases. According to the available literature, whenever chylothorax has occurred in the setting of sarcoidosis, this has almost invariably been in the setting of lymphadenopathy or at least in the setting of prior or concurrent evidence of thoracic sarcoidosis. We describe a patient with biopsy-proven abdominal sarcoidosis who developed chylothorax in the absence of lymphadenopathy or thoracic involvement and whose chylothorax rapidly and durably resolved after resumption of corticosteroid therapy.