What is a 'mediastinoscopy'?

What is a 'mediastinoscopy'?

A mediastinoscopy is a surgical procedure to stage the lung cancer. An incision is made at the base of the neck and this is done by a thoracic surgeon. A camera scope is inserted and lymph nodes in the center of the chest, called the mediastynum, are sampled. This is important because it stages your cancer pathologically. We determine definitively whether there's involvement of these lymph nodes in the center of the chest. Lung cancers which are out in the periphery in your lung tissue drain into these lymph nodes in the center of the chest, so it's important to sample these lymph nodes so that we have accurate staging. This then determines the order of your treatment, whether it be chemotherapy first, then surgery, or if you need just surgery alone.