Table 2 .

Outcomes after conservative management

Author	Regime		Success rate	Outcomes
				Death	Surgery	Other
Milito et al31	MCT feed, rarely TPN, cotrimoxazole if lymphocyte count <1,000 per μl. Surgery if drain output >1,000ml in 24h for >48h		22/50		26	2 (pleuroperitoneal shunt)
Alamdari et al25	Two-week NBM or fat-restricted feed supplemented with MCT; TPN; tube thoracostomy; octreotide 100μg three times daily		46/98		26	26 (PRFG pleurodesis)
Weijs et al20	Low-fat feed for 7 days (if drain output <500ml)		40/61	1		20 (TPN)
	TPN for 7 days (if drain output >500ml)		11/15		4
	TPN and low-fat feed for 7 days		1/1
Brinkmann et al33	TPN, chest drain for >48h		2/17		15
Miao et al32	NBM, TPN and octreotide		23/34		11
Kim et al29	NBM, TPN; ± pleurodesis and octreotide if clinically not improving		43/54		11
Fujita and Daiko13	TPN only		2/5		3
	TPN and octreotide 100μg TDS		13/15		2
Li et al21	Low-fat feed, chest drain, protein supplementation if needed	48-h trial	45/186	6	135
		2-week trial	77/120	3	36	4 (recurrence)
Shah et al28	NBM, ± additional chest drain ± TPN ± elemental feeds ± octreotide ± pleurodesis		13/34	(6)	21
Schumacher et al35	TPN and albumin infusions		1/2		1
Lagarde et al5	NBM, TPN. If drain <500ml per day, started on low-fat diet		16/20		4
Rao et al30	NBM, TPN, chest drain, octreotide in one patient		5/14	2	7
Bonavina et al36	2-week trial of NBM, TPN and chest drain. Octreotide and ethylephrine given in 2		0/3		3
Merigliano et al19	NBM, TPN, chest drain		4/11		7
Alexiou et al37	NBM, TPN, chest drain		13/21	4	4
Dugue et al38	12-day trial of TPN, chest drain		14/23		9
Bolger et al39	TPN, chest drain		3/11	4	3	1 (recurrence)
	Total		394/795 (49.6%)	20 (2.5%)	328 (41.3%)	53 (6.6%)

MCT, medium chain triglycerides; NBM, nil by mouth; PRFG, platelet-rich fibrin glue; TPN, total parenteral nutrition.