{"entity":{"id":"mediastinum","kind":"term","name":"Mediastinum","aka":["mediastinal","mediastinal nodes","mediastinal lymph nodes","hilar nodes","mediastinoscopy","mediastinal node"],"tldr":"The space in the middle of the chest between the two lungs, containing the heart, great vessels, windpipe, food pipe and the lymph nodes that lung cancer spreads to first.","summary":"Whether mediastinal lymph nodes contain tumour separates stage I-II lung cancer (surgery first) from stage III (chemoradiation or neoadjuvant chemo-immunotherapy), so they are sampled by EBUS or mediastinoscopy before any operation. Thymomas, lymphomas and germ cell tumours arise in the mediastinum; oesophageal cancer and its nodes lie within it. On PET reports 'uptake above mediastinum' is the Deauville reference level.","asOf":"2026-09-09","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediastinum","links":[{"label":"Wikipedia","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediastinum"}],"tags":[],"related":["bronchoscopy","lymph-node-status","deauville"],"cancers":["nsclc","esophageal"],"sections":["surgery"],"technologies":[],"targets":[],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":[],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":[],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"category":"Anatomy"},"route":"/terms/mediastinum/","neighbours":{"term":[{"id":"bronchoscopy","kind":"term","name":"Bronchoscopy (EBUS, robotic navigation)","route":"/terms/bronchoscopy/"},{"id":"deauville","kind":"term","name":"Deauville score and PET-adapted therapy","route":"/terms/deauville/"},{"id":"ebus-tbna","kind":"term","name":"Endobronchial ultrasound (EBUS-TBNA)","route":"/terms/ebus-tbna/"},{"id":"lymph-node-status","kind":"term","name":"Lymph node status (node-positive / node-negative)","route":"/terms/lymph-node-status/"},{"id":"mediastinal-lymph-node-stations","kind":"term","name":"Mediastinal lymph node stations","route":"/terms/mediastinal-lymph-node-stations/"},{"id":"superior-vena-cava-obstruction","kind":"term","name":"Superior vena cava obstruction","route":"/terms/superior-vena-cava-obstruction/"}],"cancer":[{"id":"nsclc","kind":"cancer","name":"Non-small-cell lung cancer","route":"/cancers/nsclc/"},{"id":"esophageal","kind":"cancer","name":"Oesophageal cancer","route":"/cancers/esophageal/"},{"id":"stage-iii-unresectable-nsclc","kind":"cancer","name":"Unresectable stage III non-small-cell lung cancer","route":"/cancers/stage-iii-unresectable-nsclc/"}],"section":[{"id":"surgery","kind":"section","name":"Surgery & Interventional","route":"/fronts/surgery/"}]}}