[Current value of mediastinoscopy]. / Intérêt actuel de la médiastinoscopie.

ABSTRACT

Between 1976 and 1985 a total of 367 mediastinoscopies were performed in the ENT Clinic, Kantonsspital of Lucerne, Switzerland. Between 1976 and 1981 and average of 50 cases were carried out annually, but the introduction of CT-scanning has provoked a considerable fall in their number. Although mediastinoscopy involves few risks, with a morbidity of 0.8% and a mortality of 0% it has increasingly been replaced by CT-scanning as the sensitivity of both procedures is comparable. The only remaining indication for mediastinoscopy is when lymph node biopsy is necessary in systemic diseases with primary mediastinal lesions.