OBJECTIVE Positron emission tomography (PET) is used increasingly in staging of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) as a non-invasive tool. The role of the PET in mediastinal lymphatic staging of NSCLC is not clear. We aimed to demonstrate the efficacy of PET in determining mediastinal lymphatic metastasis by comparing the results of PET with mediastinoscopy. PATIENTS AND METHODS We performed ...

STUDY OBJECTIVE To determine whether persons with asymptomatic bilateral hilar lymphadenopathy (ABHL) and normal results of a physical examination should be observed with a presumptive diagnosis of stage 1 sarcoidosis (S1S) (ABHLps), its most frequent cause, or undergo mediastinoscopy to avoid overlooking an alternative diagnosis (AD) requiring treatment. DESIGN We surveyed the English-langua...

We appreciate and read with great interest the article by Call et al. [1] about their extensive experience with extended mediastinoscopy. We fully support their conclusion. In our personal experiencewith now 108 cases extendedmediastinoscopyrevealedN2disease instations5or6 in17%ofallpatients. In 11%ofall patients only these stationswerepositive,meaning that with standard medastinoscopy without ...

Background: To demonstrate the diagnostic accuracy of an integrated approach of blind trans-bronchial needle aspiration (TBNA) and Tc-2-methoxy-isobutyl-isonitrile single photon emission computed tomography (Tc-MIBI-SPECT) in diagnosing mediastinal lymph adenopathy. Methods: Sixty-one consecutive patients with mediastinal lymph adenopathy undergoing both TBNA and Tc-MIBI-SPECT were prospectivel...

Objective: Data from the literature indicate that chemotherapy prior to resection may improve the results. However, only few and con ̄icting data are reported regarding the correlation between downstaging of mediastinal nodes and outcome. The aim of this study was to look at the correlation between downstaging, survival and pre-treatment staging. Material and methods: Between March 1995 and Augu...

STUDY OBJECTIVES This retrospective study of patients who were referred for surgical resection of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) assessed the accuracy and cost-effectiveness of positron emission tomography (PET) with radiolabeled [18F]-2-fluoro-deoxy-D-glucose (FDG) in staging mediastinal lymph nodes (MLNs). DESIGN From January 2001 to September 2002, 90 patients with suspected or proven ...