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This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Personal Folders Download to citation manager Author home page(s): Biruta Witte Permission Requests Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Hürtgen, M. Articles by Witte, B. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Hürtgen, M. Articles by Witte, B. Related Collections Lung - cancer Mediastinum History

Letters to the Editor

History of extended cervical mediastinoscopy

Katholisches Klinikum Koblenz – Brüderhaus, Department of Thoracic Surgery, Kardinal-Krementz-Str. 1-5, D-56075 Koblenz, Germany

Received 30 December 2008; accepted 7 January 2009.

^_* Corresponding author. Tel.: +49 261 496 6489; fax: +49 261 496 6469. (Email: martinhuertgen{at}yahoo.de; m.huertgen{at}kk-koblenz.de).

Key Words: Extended cervical mediastinoscopy • Staging • History

We appreciate and read with great interest the article by Call et al. [1] about their extensive experience with extended mediastinoscopy. We fully support their conclusion. In our personal experience with now 108 cases extended mediastinoscopy revealed N2 disease in stations 5 or 6 in 17% of all patients. In 11% of all patients only these stations were positive, meaning that with standard medastinoscopy without extended mediastinoscopy N2 disease would have been missed.

However, we would like to comment on one more thing: Ginsberg is usually quoted as the inventor of extended mediastinoscopy referring to his publication in 1987 [2]. However it seems adequate and will certainly not reduce Ginsberg's innumerable achievements in the field of thoracic surgery to honour that Specht in 1965 [3] already described the technique of extended or ‘expanded’ mediastinoscopy (‘Erweiterte Mediastinoskopie’ was the original title) what is rarely noticed and almost never cited. Moreover, ‘Erweiterte Mediastinoskopie’ for Specht not only included the technique rediscovered and populized later by Ginsberg for the para-aortal region but also the exploration of the lower and posterior mediastinum and the hilar and interlobar lymph nodes. Specht's publications and illustrations are very interesting.

References

1. Call S, Rami-Porta R, Serra-Mitjans M, Saumench R. Extended cervical mediastinoscopy in the staging of bronchogenic carcinoma of the left lung. Eur J Cardiothorac Surg 2008;34:1081-1084.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
2. Ginsberg RJ, Rice TW, Goldberg M, Waters PF, Schmocker BJ. Extended cervical mediastinoscopy. A single staging procedure for bronchogenic carcinoma of the left upper lobe. J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 1987;94:673-678.[Abstract]
3. Specht G. Erweiterte Mediastinoskopie. Thoraxchir Vask Chir 1965;13:401-407.[Medline]

This article has been cited by other articles:

				S. Call, R. Rami-Porta, and J. Belda-Sanchis Reply to Hurtgen and Witte Eur. J. Cardiothorac. Surg., April 1, 2009; 35(4): 745 - 745. [Full Text] [PDF]

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Personal Folders Download to citation manager Author home page(s): Biruta Witte Permission Requests Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Hürtgen, M. Articles by Witte, B. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Hürtgen, M. Articles by Witte, B. Related Collections Lung - cancer Mediastinum History