Sarcoidosis is a multisystem disease of unknown origin characterized by the presence of noncaseating epithelioid cell granulomas. When these granulomas develop in the lymph nodes, and the patient does not meet criteria for the diagnosis of systemic sarcoidosis we refer to this as a sarcoid-like reaction. Because of the clinical implications of the diagnosis of lymph node metastasis, mediastinos...

OBJECTIVE The role of different techniques for mediastinal staging in patients with suspected lung cancer is a subject of debate. The aim of this study was to analyze the diagnostic yield and cost-effectiveness of transbronchial needle aspiration in the mediastinal staging of lung cancer in patients being evaluated in a tertiary hospital. PATIENTS AND METHODS This was a retrospective, observa...

Mediastinoscopy, in the skilled hands of a thoracic surgeon, is a safe, cosmetically accepted procedure with negligible complications, less than that reported in many series of scalene node biopsies. It has the advantage of yielding a much higher rate of diagnostic tissue, in all instances over 90%O. In the cases of tuberculosis it enabled an organism to be isolated and sensitivities obtained. ...

To the great disappointment of all concerned, too many operations performed for pulmonary carcinoma still prove to be exploratory thoracotomies or non-curative resections, in spite of careful preoperative investigations. A follow-up study of 168 patients operated upon for pulmonary carcinoma clearly shows that such non-curative procedures yield very disappointing results. To reduce this number ...

Diagnosis of indeterminate mediastinal masses and staging of lung cancer poses a significant challenge. Transesophageal endoscopic ultrasound scanning (EUS) provides high resolution imaging of the mediastinum and offers the facility of fine needle aspiration or tru-cut biopsy under real-time ultrasound guidance. Accurate diagnosis of nodal involvement in lung cancer is pivotal to avoid unnecess...

BACKGROUND At present only few studies directly compare the diagnostic yield of endobronchial ultrasound guided fine needle aspiration (EBUS-FNA) and transcervical video-assisted mediastinoscopy (TM) for mediastinal lymph node staging in patients with NSCLC. If and when EBUS-FNA may replace TM as Gold Standard remains controversial. METHODS From April 2008 to December 2009, 36 patients with m...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate clinical aspects, results and the economic impact of the outpatient thoracic surgery programme (OTSP) developed in our Department. METHODS Prospective study of 300 patients who entered in the OTSP from April 2001 to March 2005. The procedures performed were video-mediastinoscopy (MC), video-thoracoscopic lung biopsy (LB) and video-thoracoscopic bilateral thoracic sympath...