Late complication of extended cervical mediastinoscopy.

Can J Surg, Vol. 47, No. 3, June 2004 223 E cervical mediastinoscopy (ECM) is undertaken to examine the invasive stage of primary tumours in the left-upper lobe of the lung and to help diagnose anterior mediastinal lesions. In the literature, few papers deal with ECM; the first on ECM done for diagnostic purposes was a 2002 report by Metin and colleagues on 9 cases. Complications related to the technique are infrequent and occur during or soon after the procedure; immediate postoperative bleeding and pneumothorax have been reported. We describe an unusual case of a late complication after ECM.