The Contribution of Anterior Mediastinotorny in the Diagnosis and Evaluation of Diseases of the Mediastinum and Lung

Lung cancer staging

“…Another traditional approach to the APW is via an anterior mediastinotomy via the second or third intercostal space at the left sternal border, also known as a Chamberlain procedure [64]. Compared with an extended cervical mediastinoscopy, this procedure carries a theoretically lower risk of embolic stroke but requires an extra incision, may cause pleural injury and pneumothorax, and may damage the left internal mammary artery [45].…”

“…Compared with an extended cervical mediastinoscopy, this procedure carries a theoretically lower risk of embolic stroke but requires an extra incision, may cause pleural injury and pneumothorax, and may damage the left internal mammary artery [45]. Used alone, anterior mediastinotomy has a sensitivity of 63% to 86% for detecting N2 nodal spread, but when coupled with a standard cervical mediastinoscopy, the combined sensitivity reaches 87% [64,65].…”

Chamberlain Mediastinotomy for Diagnosis of Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma of Trachea

“…1 Our rationale behind opting for Chamberlains procedure was (a) to acquire biopsy without resorting to GA 5 (b) to access anterior mediastinum for tumour staging in order to establish surgical resectability 5 and (c) to attain definite result (Chamberlain has a 100% specificity and 100% sensitivity with a morbidity and mortality rate of 16.1% and 1.6%, respectively). 5 In conclusion, we were able to use Chamberlain mediastinotomy to biopsy the circumtracheal tumour under local anaesthesia. It proved to be a quick and efficient approach in our case and can be considered to biopsy tracheal lesions in patients who cannot tolerate general anaesthesia.…”

Four Cases of Invasive Anterior Mediastinal Tumors Definitively Diagnosed by the Chamberlain Procedure

“…The Chamberlain procedure was considered to be best suited for biopsy in all of these cases, in terms of successful collection of relatively large biopsy specimens, reliability of the histological diagnosis, and safety and feasibility of the procedure. [18][19][20] No major complications delaying the commencement of appropriate tumor therapy occurred. In our practice, we use the Chamberlain procedures for those lesions more lateral and anterior in the mediastinum.…”