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What is a bronchoscopy mediastinoscopy?
It is used to examine your bronchial air tubes. Biopsies may be taken. Mediastinoscopy is a procedure to biopsy lymph nodes (glands) in the mediastinum. The mediastinum is the area in your chest between your lungs.
What is the purpose of a mediastinoscopy?
Mediastinoscopy is often done to remove or biopsy lymph nodes in the area between the lungs to check for cancer or to stage lung cancer. It can also be used in people with thymoma (tumor of the thymus gland), esophagus cancer, or lymphoma for the same reasons.
How is a mediastinoscopy performed?
The healthcare provider will make a small cut (incision) just above your breastbone (sternum). He or she will use a finger to make a passageway into the mediastinum and examine the lymph nodes by touch. The mediastinoscope will be put through the passageway. Tissue samples may be taken (biopsy).
What is mediastinoscopy?
Mediastinoscopy is a thoracic surgical procedure performed with a mediastinoscope to examine the mediastinum— the space in the thoracic cavity between the lungs for various indications, including diagnostic tissue sampling, mediastinal lymph node biopsy, and TNM (tissue, nodes, and metastasis) staging.
What is transthoracic mediastinoscopy?
Transthoracic mediastinoscopy, also known as Chamberlain’s procedure or anterior mediastinotomy, is a more involved procedure that allows for dissection of the aortopulmonary lymph nodes. Surgery in the mediastinum was first described in 1899 when a superior mediastinal abscess was successfully drained.
What is the mortality and morbidity associated with mediastinoscopy?
Mediastinoscopy is not a benign procedure; the morbidity associated with the procedure is reported to be between 1.5% to 3%, with an overall mortality rate of 0.09%. Intraoperative complications can occur with mediastinoscopy and include bleeding, which is the most common complication of this procedure.