Clinical Application and Experience of Vedio-assisted Mediastinoscopy in the Diagnosis of Thoracic Disease

Objective:To discuss clinical application of video-assisted mediastinoscopy in the diagnosis and therapy of thoracic disease. Methods:A total of fifteen standard cervical video-mediastinoscopy cases from August, 2007 to November, 2008 in our division were retrospectively reviewed. Results:The mean operation time was 55 min(range, 40~90 min), mean blood loss was 48ml(range, 10~100 mL). Twelve cases were with lung cancer which pre-operative radiological staging revealed mediastinal lymphadenopathy (N2 or N3), 7 cases with positive pathological finding precluded curative surgery and 5 negative cases followed by radical lobectomies; Three additional cases were difficult-diagnosed mediastinal disease and obtained the definitive pathological diagnosis after VAM. No severe complications happened in our group. Conclusion:VAM is safe and effective procedure. It is helpful on diagnosis and differential diagnosis for noncausal mediastinal disease, and valuable to provide the pathological diagnosis for staging diagnosis of lung cancer.