Endobronchial ultrasound guided transbronchial needle aspiration is a recently introduceddiagnostic method which enables real time aspiration of peritracheal and peribronchial lesions. The high sensitivity and the high diagnostic accuracy of EBUS-TBNA in the mediastinal staging of lung cancer have been reported. EBUS-TBNA also showed the high diagnostic yield in the diagnosis of lung parenchymal masses adjacent to the trachea or the large airways. EBUS-TBNA is a good diagnostic method for mediastinal diseases, such as sarcoidosis. Until now, no major complications of EBUS-TBNA have been reported. EBUS-TBNA should be considered for the mediastinal staging of lung cancer and the diagnosis of mediastinal lymphadenopathies.

Surgical resection and reanastomosis has been the treatment of choice in patients with tracheobronchial stenosis. Recent development of bronchoscopic intervention has been replacing the role of surgery in these patients. After summarizing the upto date data of bronchoscopic intervention, the proper management of tracheobronchial stenosis will be presented. Bronchoscopic intervention would be much effective when performed under rigid bron- choscopy, due to the stable patients' condition and endoscopic view. The usual method of intervention includes ballooning, Nd-YAG laser resection, bougienation, mechanical airway dilatation, stenting and photodynamic therapy. Silicone stents are very effective in patients with tracheobronchial stenosis to maintain airway patency. Bronchoscopic intervention provided immediate symptomatic relief and improved lung function in most of patients. After airway stabilization, stents were removed successfully in 2/3 of the patients at a 12-18 months post-insertion. Less than 5% of patients eventually needs surgical management. Acute complications, including excessive bleeding, pneumothorax, and pneumomediastinum develops in less than 5% of patients but managed without mortality. Stent-related late complications, such as, migration, granuloma formation, mucostasis, and restenosis are relatively high but usually controlled by follow-up bronchoscopy. In conclusion, bronchoscopic intervention, including silicone stenting could be a useful and safe method for treating tracheobronchial stenosis.

Endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS) has been developed for the diagnosis of various gastrointestinal diseases or extra-gastrointestinal diseases, and extended to interventional approach. In fields of mediastinal diseases, EUS is an effective diagnostic method for the staging of esophageal cancer, lung cancer and other mediastinal diseases. Recently, EUS guided fine needle aspiration or biopsy makes the histologic diagnosis possible in various mediastinal diseases, and would reserve many avoidable surgical cases.

Background and Objectives: In most cases of benign neck cysts, surgical excision has been considered as treatment of choice. However, sometimes complete excision is very difficult, and recurrences has been occured due to insufficient surgery frequently. In this point of view, non-surgical treatment has been attempted with sclerosing agents such as picibanil(OK-432). In this study, we evaluated the efficacy of picibanil sclerotherapy for benign neck cysts. Materials and methods: We retrospectively reviewed 53 patients(27 males, 26 females) who had undergone sclerotherapy with picibanil for benign neck cysts such as ranula, lymphangioma, thyroglossal duct cyst and branchial cyst. Information was gathered with respected to age, sex, number of injections, side effect and outcome of treatment. All patients were treated with intralesional aspiration of cystic contents and injection of picibanil, and followed on neck ultrasonography or neck CT. Results: 53 patients received sonoguided sclerotherapy using picibanil(OK-432). 31 patients(41.3%) showed total shrinkage, near total shrinkage(more than 90% of volume) in 7 patients(9.3%), marked shrinkage(more than 70%) in 5 patients(6.6%) and partial shrinkage(less than 70%) in 17 patients. 15 patients(20%) reaveled no response and 8 patients showed recurrences with repeated sclerotherapy. The side effects of therapy were observed by symptoms such as fever, localized pain and odynophagia. However, these complications disappeared after several days in all cases. Conclusions: We recognized that picibanil(OK-432) sclerotherapy for benign neck cyst is a safe and effective procedures as a primary treatment before considering surgery.

Background : Anti-reflux procedures treat gastroesophageal reflux (GER) disease. It is known that gastroesophageal reflux is likelyrelated to the increased incidence of chronic rejection in lung transplantation recipients. Because experimental animal studies areto verify this, we have tried to make an animal model of GER in a rat. Material and Methods : Using the SD rats weighing 250-300 g, we surgically induced gastroesophageal reflux and measured the gastrostomy time under anesthesia. Of three groups, Group I was the control, Group II had lower esophageal and anterior myotomy, and Group III had lower esophageal and anterior myotomy plusdiaphragmatic crural myotomy.The animals were scarified, and lung biopsies and histological examinations were performed 1 week, 2 weeks, 4 weeks, 8 weeks and 3 months after gastroesophageal reflux surgery. Results : Baseline animals (n=5) had no GER after charcoal instillation through a gastrostomy tube in Group I. Charcoal-laden macrophages were observed in GroupsII and III. To determine evidence of GER evidence, charcoal was instillated through the gastrostomy tube in group III. In contrast, Group II demonstrated severe neurophil infiltration in the bronchioles and alveolar walls after procedure. After 12 weeks, we observed the disappearance of neurophil, lymphocyte and histiocyte infiltration, and also occasional focal bronchopneumonia and bronchitis. Group III demonstrated neurophil and basophil infiltration in the bronchioles and alveolar walls which was more severe than that in Group II. Interstitial fibrotic changes were observed in Group III.Conclusion : The purpose of our gastroesophageal reflux model was to find evidence of aspiration. There was more evidence of aspiration in Group II than in either of theother two groups.

Ectopic Hamartomatous thymoma(EHT) is a rare benign tumor that occurs mainly in the supraclavicular or suprasternal area. Since this entity was first reported by Smith et al. in 1982, less than 50 cases have been reported in the literature. Recognition of EHT is important and needs to be differentiated from high-grade sarcomas such as synovial sarcoma or malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumor because EHT follows a benign clinical course. We experienced a case of ectopic hamartomatous thymoma in the suprasternal area in a 53-year-old man. Here, we present the case with a review of the related literatures.

The postoperative respiratory complications such as pneumonia and ARDS, are poor prognostic factors after esophagectomy in patients with esophageal cancer. To avoid these complications, there have been attempts to use minimally invasive approach. Recently introduced daVinciTM S surgical system is used in esophagectomy because of its advantages of minimal invasiveness, clear 3-dimensional imaging and precise handling of robotic arms. We report a 83-year-old esophageal cancer patient who underwent daVinciTMS robot-assisted esophagectomy, laparoscopic stomach mobilization followed by cervical esophagogastrostomy.

Hypopharyngeal perforation secondary to tracheal intubation is rare, but may result in severe airway complications that include retropharyngeal abscess, pneumothorax, pneumonia, mediastinitis and death. The most common site of hypopharyngeal perforation is the pyriform sinus and the region of the cricopharyngeus muscle. We report a 62-year old man with intubation-induced hypopharyngeal injury presenting as deep neck infection. The patient presented with dyspnea and pain on the neck. Neck CT scan identified fluid and air collection on the neck from the hyoid bone to the thoracic inlet level. Despite of delayed diagnosis, we successfully operated him by using strap muscle myofascial transposition flap. The patient was followed up for 3 months without any complications.

Craniovertebral junction (CVJ) tuberculosis is a rare disease, and potentially fatal due to the risk of atlantoaxial dislocation. The disease usually accompanies a retropharyngeal cold abscess, which can cause subsequential otolaryngologic symptoms such asdysphagia, odynophagia, or airway obstruction. Such a patient must be handled with great care to avoid a disaster. The disease is diagnosed with microbiological or other laboratory tests on the pus collected through puncture and aspiration, which will need otolaryngologic skills. For treatment, otolaryngologists play an important role by doing incision and drainage of the retropharyngeal abscess, or by attending the transoral vertebra surgery as partners with spine surgeons who will manage the CVJ lesions and ensure the craniocervical stability.

Nerogenic tumor of various histologic types may arise in the posterior mediastinum. Mediastinal schwannoma is a frequent paraspinal neurogenic tumor, but malignant mediastinal schwannoma is rare tumor which is derived from Schwann cells. Although there are some reports dealing with approach for screening patients with symptoms suggesting malignancy and the imaging criteria for distinguishing malignant from benign schwannoma but the results are not clearly defined. We present a case of hugh mediastinal schwannoma which was taken for malignancy in imaging studies because of its invasiveness.