title: Treatment of mediastinitis using video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Mediastinitis remains a life-threatening disease that is difficult to manage and has a poor prognosis. This is especially true of descending necrotizing mediastinitis, which before the 1990s era had a mortality of approximately 40% despite the use of antibiotics, surgical techniques, and intensive care monitoring. Several authors have recommended that aggressive surgical approaches for mediastinitis are more effective than simple surgical approaches; however the best surgical option for mediastinitis remains controversial.
  
  
  METHODS
  In a retrospective analysis between January 2000 and June 2006, 17 patients who underwent surgical debridement and drainage using video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery are included in this report. Data extracted from medical records included sex, age, origin of infection, surgical intervention, progress, and outcome including cause of death. There were eight men and nine women. The mean age was 52 years old (range, 20-72).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The origins of infection included esophageal perforation in nine patients and odontogenic or peritonsillar abscesses in the remaining eight patients. Among them, two patients required conversion to thoracotomy during operation in cases of mediastinitis due to esophageal perforation, so excluding the two patients, we calculated next five data for 15 patients. The mean duration from onset of symptoms to surgery was 12.4+/-13.1 days (range, 0-43) and the mean duration from the initial operation to discharge was 43.6+/-24.4 days (range, 8-113). There was serial operation in one case. There were three cases of postoperative mortality.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Mediastinal drainage using video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery with or without cervical drainage can be a feasible and effective surgical option. This less invasive technique seems to have an outcome similar to more aggressive open surgical approaches for patients with mediastinitis previously reported in the literature, although it has not been directly compared.
authors.affiliation: National Masan Hospital, Masan, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Jeong Su
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.forename: Yeong Dae
authors.initials: YD
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Hoseok
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: I
authors.forename: Sang Kwon
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Yeon Joo
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Jeong
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003646:Debridement / Q000379:methods; D004322:Drainage / Q000379:methods; D004939:Esophageal Perforation / Q000150:complications; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008480:Mediastinitis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000209:etiology / Q000601:surgery*; D008875:Middle Aged; D019060:Minimally Invasive Surgical Procedures / Q000379:methods; D009807:Odontogenic Cysts / Q000150:complications; D000039:Peritonsillar Abscess / Q000150:complications; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D020775:Thoracic Surgery, Video-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D055815:Young Adult