title: A relative contra-indication to mediastinoscopy.
abstract: In a patient in whom a coarctation of the aorta had been successfully operated on 17 years earlier, a life-threatening haemorrhage from a thin-walled, dilated collateral artery occurred in conjunction with a mediastinoscopy. It is argued that diseases with increased mediastinal collateral vessels (coarctation of the aorta, cyanotic heart disease, severe suppurative lung disease) are relative contraindications to mediastinoscopy, even after a corrective procedure has been carried out.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001017:Aortic Coarctation / Q000601:surgery; D006470:Hemorrhage / Q000209:etiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008477:Mediastinal Diseases / Q000209:etiology*; D008481:Mediastinoscopy / Q000009:adverse effects*; D012507:Sarcoidosis / Q000175:diagnosis