Descending necrotizing mediastinitis (DNM) is a rare but often fatal disease. Transcervical mediastinal drainage and transthoracic mediastinal drainage are the most commonly employed drainage methods for treating patients with DNM. It remains controversial as to whether transcervical mediastinal drainage alone would be adequate for the treatment of DNM, which is a life-threatening disease. Between 1996 and 2004, 13 patients with DNM were treated at our department. We performed transcervical mediastinal drainage in 6 patients with localized DNM, in whom the infection remained limited to above the level of the carina. A more aggressive approach, that is, transthoracic mediastinal drainage, was employed in the remaining 7 patients who had extensive DNM, with the infection extending below the carina. The overall mortality rate was 8%. All the 6 patients treated by transcervical drainage survived without major postoperative complications. Six out of the 7 patients treated by transthoracic drainage survived, while one died of pneumonia. Our results suggest that transcervical mediastinal drainage may be adequate for treating patients with localized DNM in whom the infection does not extend beyond the carina, while transthoracic mediastinal drainage must be adopted for patients with more extensive disease.
