title: Thoracoscopy for intrathoracic tumors.
abstract: The technique of thoracoscopy has been performed on 49 occasions in 45 patients for the diagnosis or staging of intrathoracic tumors. The patients ranged from 8 months to 68 years old. Eight procedures were performed for pleural disease, 16 for mediastinal masses, 22 for parenchymal lesions, and 3 for intrathoracic staging. Seventeen patients had had previous invasive procedures performed without a pathological diagnosis being established. In 28 thoracoscopy procedures, a positive diagnosis for malignancy was obtained; in 6 instances, areas of unsuspected tumor involvement were identified. A correct diagnosis was obtained by thoracoscopy in 45 procedures for a 92% overall accuracy rate. There was no clinically significant morbidity in this series and no procedure-related mortality. Thoracoscopy, performed under stellate ganglion block and regional anesthesia, has proved to be a very attractive method of diagnosing intrathoracic neoplasia with very low morbidity.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000765:Anesthesia, Conduction; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008171:Lung Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis; D008297:Male; D008477:Mediastinal Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D010995:Pleural Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis; D013233:Stellate Ganglion; D013899:Thoracic Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D013906:Thoracoscopy