[Results, complications and efficacy of micromediastinoscopy]

In a retrospective study we examined all 72 patients who underwent a mediastinoscopy using the surgical microscope described by Meuser in 1968. A total of 74 operations was performed. In only 3 cases was there a false-negative result. Test sensitivity was 95%, specificity 100% and effectiveness 96%. Complications involved 2 cases of pneumothorax (for which no further therapy was necessary), 1 case of bleeding from a branch of the brachiocephalic trunk and 1 case of persistent lymphorrhagia with chylothorax, which was stopped by repeat mediastinoscopy. Preconditions for mediastinoscopy to minimize complications and false-negative results are: preoperative CT of the thorax, good cooperation with an anaesthesiologist, use of a microscopic and other special instruments and intraoperative frozen sections of tissue biopsies.