ABSTRACT
Mediastinotomy, also commonly referred to as anterior mediastinoscopy or the ‘Chamberlain procedure’, was reported in 1966 as a technique for assessing the resectability of lung cancers in the left upper lobe. Since that time, the operation has changed little, but the indications have broadened to establish the procedure as an excellent operative approach for acquiring macroscopic tissue samples from tumors in the anterosuperior mediastinum on either side of the sternum. Although some proponents of video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) have challenged mediastinotomy as an outdated procedure, mediastinotomy has endured as a ‘minimally invasive’ surgical procedure in its own right and one that all thoracic surgeons should have in their armamentarium.
