Objective: To study the value of mediastinoscopic examination in the accurate diagnosis of mediastinal mass.
Methods: Standard cervical mediastinoscopy (SCM) or extended mediastinoscopy was applied to patients with mediastinal mass on chest CT or MRI, in order to obtain suspicious tissues at peritracheal, retrosternal, subcarinal, or bilateral hilar areas for pathological study.
Results: Of 60 cases in this series, 58 got definite pathological diagnoses. Of the 58 cases, 30 were diagnosed as malignancies, accounting for 51.7% of the cases examined. Twenty-eight of the 58 were diagnosed as benign accounting for 48.3% of them. Small-cell undifferentiated carcinoma was the most common type of malignancy, followed by lymphoma, metastatic adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma in decreasing frequencies. Over one half of the patients with benign lesions were tuberculosis, followed by sarcoidosis. In this series, 93% of the cases received SCM examination. The most common sampling sites were 2R and 4R areas.
Conclusion: Mediastinoscopy is a valuable procedure which helps clarify diagnosis of mediastinal mass.