ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the value of cervical mediastinoscopy(CM) in the diagnosis of thoracic diseases.Methods From January 1990 to September 2008,281 patients with diseases in the chest were examined by cervical mediastinoscopy under local infiltration anesthesia or general anesthesia.Through the pretracheal space,exploration and biopsy of the neoplasms and lymph nodes around the trachea were carried out.Results Among the cases,pathological diagnosis were made in 268 patients(95.4%),including the 23 patients who were not clearly diagnosed before the operation.The accuracy of the preoperative diagnosis was 56.9%(41/72) for malignant tumors,and 87.4%(104/119) for benign lesions.Conclusions Cervical mediastinoscopy is an effective method to detect mediastinum diseases with or without other thoracic diseases,especially for simply enlarged lymph nodes in the mediastinum.For the patients with lung cancer complicated with enlarged lymph nodes in the mediastinum or those with tumors in the mediastinum,the method is also feasible.