What is Left of Mediastinoscopy?

Abstract

Mediastinoscopy has not reached the popularity it deserves as most surgeons never learned the correct technique. It should not be a simple finger palpation, but a meticulous dissection in the correct layer anterior to the trachea and paratracheally with biopsies from lymph nodes and eventual tumor tissue under good vision-Careful dissection is important to avoid complications such as bleeding, esophageal lesions, and left vocal cord paralysis, (The implantation of cancer cells in the scar is a rarity and of no practical importance for the progression of the disease.)