Mediastinoscopy in the diagnosis of thoracic disease

One hundred and forty-one patients have undergone mediastinoscopy in the Hong Kong University Surgical Unit since March 1974. Among these there were 109 cases of bronchogenic carcinoma. In approximately 50% of these patients the carcinoma had already spreed to involve the mediastinal lymph nodes at the time of examination. Mediastinoscopy may be the only source of positive histological proof of the diagnosis in bronchogenic carcinoma as well as in other types of intrathoracic disease such as tuberculosis. We believe that mediastinoscopy reduces the number of unnecessary exploratory thoracotomies.