This is a review of our experience with anterior mediastinotomy (AM) in the diagnosis and evaluation of diseases of the mediastinum and lung. Thirty consecutive patients who had AM between 1984 and 1999 were retrospectively studied. The mean age of patients was 28 +/- 6.5 years. There were 22 males to 8 females. Sixteen patients had superior vena cava (SVC) obstruction (12 patients with lung cancer, 4 with primary mediastinal tumours), 4 patients had radiological evidence of mediastinal contiguity of upper lobe tumours and 10 patients had primary mediastinal tumours. AM was 1st procedure in 10 patients and 2nd procedure in 20 patients after failed or inconclusive result from FNAB, scalene node/cervical lymph node biopsy or bronchoscopy. Eighteen right-sided and 12 left-sided AMs were performed. Satisfactory histological diagnoses were achieved in all patients. Complications were easily controlled bleeding (4 patients) and life-threatening haemorrhage in 2 patients. Three patients had delayed wound healing and 4 had inadvertent pleural entries. There was no mortality temporarily related to the procedure. We conclude that AM is valuable as a surgical technique for obtaining tissue for histological purposes in diseases of the mediastinum and the lung when tissue specimens from less invasive procedures are unsatisfactory.