The selection of patients with bronchogenic carcinoma for mediastinoscopy

The records of 112 patients treated at the Ochsner Foundation Hospital with the diagnosis of bronchogenic carcinoma were reviewed. A new concept for defining the location of central versus peripheral tumors is presented. Criteria important in selection of patients for whom mediastinoscopy is likely to be helpful are cell type, location (peripheral versus central), and radiographic evidence of mediastinal metastasis. The size of the tumor is not a useful criterion except possibly for squamous cell lesions. A high incidence of mediastinal metasis was found associated with central tumors (63 to 100 per cent) of all cell types and with peripheral lesions (63 per cent) of undifferentiated cell types. A relatively low incidence of mediastinal metasis was associated with peripheral asenocarcinomas or squamous cell tumors. We would, therefore, recommend mediastinoscopy for all patients with central lesions and those patients with peripheral lesions of an undifferentiated cell type. When correlated with radiographic findings, only 4.6 per cent of peripheral carcinomas of a differentiated cell type with a radiographically normal mediastinum were found to produce mediastinal metastases, and mediastinoscopy is not recommended. In patients with peripheral tumors of indeterminate cell type, a decision for mediastinoscopy may be influenced by other factors such as the operative risk of a thoracotomy and location of the primary tumor within the lung.