CT Virtual bronchoscopy:clinical application

Objictive To evaluate the clinical application of CT virtual bronchoscopy(VB) in bronchial pulmonary diseases. Methods Fifty cases were studied with CTVB. All patients were proved with fiberoptic bronchoscopy or pathology.Among the 50 cases lung cancer of center type( n =27),post operative lung cancer ( n =4),bronchial diverticulum ( n =1),normal bronchus( n =18).CTVB was performed using navigator smooth software on the workstation(Advantege Windows 3.1 GE Medical Systems). Results CTVB could reveal 100% segmental bronchus and more than 80% subsegmental bronchus mimicing fiberoptic bronchoscopy. Bronchial stenosis ( n =23) and occlusion (n =4)due to tumors. Post operative bronchial stump( n =4) appeared as smooth blind end without recurrence of tumors as confirmed by fiberoptic endoscopy. Conclusion CTVB is a new method of noninvasive bronchial pulmonary diseases. Comparing with fiberoptic bronchoscopy, CTVB possess incomparable advantages. However CTVB can not replace conventional bronchoscopy for demonstrating mucosal abnormalities and for obtaining histolo gic samples.