Preliminary experience of video-mediastinoscopy in the diagnosis of thoracic diseases

Objective To determine the value of wideo-mediastinoscopy inthoracic diseases.Methods 38 patients were examined by cervial mediastinoscopy with video-mediastinosopy for diagnostic and staging purposes.Of these 38 patients,16 were for diagnosis of unknown mediastinal disease,3 for diagnosis and staging of pulmonary no dule or mass clinically suspected to be malignancy and 19 for the staging of lung cancer and images show mediastinally lymphadenectasis (≥1.0 cm).Results 16 patients with unknown mediastinal as tuberculosis in 3,thymoma in 2,in flammatory pseudo tumor in 2,lymph node hyperplasia in 1,metastaticlesion from lung cancer in 1,metastatic thyroid carcinoma in 1,teratoma in 1,and sacoidosis in 1.giving a diagnosticrate of 87.5%.Of three patients with suspected malignancy,one was diagnosed as tuberculosis by cervical mediastinoscopy and the other two as lymphoma and pulmanory inflammatory pseudo tumor by thoracoscopy and thoracotomy.Thesensitivity and specificity of mediastinoscopy for the staging of mediastinal no desin 19 lung cancerswere 87.5% and 100%.Only one haemorrhaged but no other majorcomplication was found.Conclusion Mediastioscopy is a safe procedure which can accurately provide in formation on diabnosis and staging.