To prospectively look at the utility of routine cervical mediastinoscopy (lymph node biopsy) in patients with clinically staged T2N0M0 NSCLC, as well as patients with clinically staged T1N0M0 NSCLC with a high maxSUV of the primary tumor on PET imaging.
Hypothesis #1: The prevalence of mediastinal lymph node metastases detectable by cervical mediastinoscopy is sufficiently low (<10%) to not support the routine use of this test in the study population.
Hypothesis #2: The preoperative detection of occult(hidden) N2 lymph node metastases by cervical mediastinoscopy in patients with clinically staged T2N0M0 NSCLC or T1N0M0 NSCLC with maxSUV >10 on PET does not provide a survival benefit when compared to detection of occult N2 lymph node metastases at the time of thoracotomy using nodal dissection or systematic sampling.