# Mediastinum

Source: https://onco.cc/terms/mediastinum/  
OnCo record `mediastinum` (Term). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

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.

## Fields

- Kind: Term
- Last checked: 2026-09-09
- Also known as: mediastinal; mediastinal nodes; mediastinal lymph nodes; hilar nodes; mediastinoscopy; mediastinal node

## Sources

- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediastinum
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediastinum

## Connected records

- terms: [Bronchoscopy (EBUS, robotic navigation)](https://onco.cc/terms/bronchoscopy/), [Deauville score and PET-adapted therapy](https://onco.cc/terms/deauville/), [Endobronchial ultrasound (EBUS-TBNA)](https://onco.cc/terms/ebus-tbna/), [Lymph node status (node-positive / node-negative)](https://onco.cc/terms/lymph-node-status/), [Mediastinal lymph node stations](https://onco.cc/terms/mediastinal-lymph-node-stations/), [Superior vena cava obstruction](https://onco.cc/terms/superior-vena-cava-obstruction/)
- cancers: [Non-small-cell lung cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/nsclc/), [Oesophageal cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/esophageal/), [Unresectable stage III non-small-cell lung cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/stage-iii-unresectable-nsclc/)
- fronts: [Surgery & Interventional](https://onco.cc/fronts/surgery/)

---
JSON: https://onco.cc/api/v1/entities/mediastinum.json