[CT guided percutaneous needle biopsy of mediastinal lymph nodes for staging of primary lung carcinoma]

In cases of primary lung carcinoma, diagnosis of metastatic mediastinal lymph nodes using computed tomography (CT) is usually difficult, and mediastinoscopy is highly invasive for patients. By using CT guided percutaneous needle aspiration technique, we diagnosed the metastasis to mediastinal lymph nodes in three cases of primary lung carcinoma. In this method, percutaneous biopsy was easily performed even in obesed patient, and metastatic lymph nodes were differentiated from large vessels by using enhanced CT to avoid dangerous punctures. Furthermore, biopsy of almost all mediastinal lymph nodes may be feasible by using both anterior and posterior approach. This method seems to be very useful for the diagnosis of the staging of primary lung carcinoma.