The first mediastinotomies were performed at the end of the 19th century as therapeutic attempts to treat mediastinitis, which at that time was a frequent and uniformly fatal complication of deep-seated neck infections. According to Palva (13), Heidenbain reported the first successful collar mediastinoscopy in 1899. During World War I, Marschik of the Viennese School introduced the concept of p...

Although the incidence of superficial glandular tuberculosis is high in Asian immigrants, a clinical diagnosis without biopsy has previously been shown to be inaccurate in 22% of cases. The role of diagnostic mediastinoscopy and biopsy in thoracic lymphadenopathy was therefore evaluated in 41 consecutive Asian patients. Tuberculosis was diagnosed by histological examination or culture (or both)...

Of 600 mediastinoscopies carried out from 1966 to 1973, 479 were performed to assess the operability of a pulmonary carcinoma. Of these, 206 (43%) were positive and 273 (57%) were negative. Of the 161 patients found positive during an initial period, 147 were refused operation; the remaining 14 were considered suitable candidates for operation, either because only one homolateral lymph node sit...

Up to December 1973, we had performed 100 mediastinoscopies for lung carcinoma. Fifty-two were positive and 48 negative. In 80 cases there was clinical or radiological suspicion of mediastinal invasion. With radiological evidence of mediastinal node involvement exploration was positive in 32 out of 35 cases, when chest radiography findings were equivocal in 19 out of 45, and when radiology of t...

Accurate staging is the first step in the management of lung cancer. Nodal staging is quite important for physicians to be able to judge the primary operability of patients harboring no distant metastasis. For many years, mediastinoscopy has been considered a "gold standard" modality for nodal staging. Mediastinoscopy is known to be a highly sensitive procedure for mediastinal staging and has b...

BACKGROUND To demonstrate the diagnostic accuracy of an integrated approach of blind trans-bronchial needle aspiration (TBNA) and (99m)Tc-2-methoxy-isobutyl-isonitrile single photon emission computed tomography ((99m)Tc-MIBI-SPECT) in diagnosing mediastinal lymph adenopathy. METHODS Sixty one consecutive patients with mediastinal lymph adenopathy undergoing both TBNA and (99m)Tc-MIBI-SPECT we...