Virtual and fiber-optic bronchoscopy in patients with indication for tracheobronchial evaluation

Abstract

OBJECTIVE:The aim of this study was to compare the results of virtual bronchoscopy (VB) images in defining tracheobronchial pathologies with those of fiber-optic bronchoscopy (FOB) in patients with clinical indication for bronchoscopy.METHODS:Twenty-two patients with bronchoscopy indication were evaluated with FOB and VB. The VB results were evaluated blindly, independent of the FOB results.RESULTS:In 19 of the 22 patients, tracheobronchial abnormalities were present on FOB, whereas 3 patients had normal findings on FOB. In 17 of 19 patients, VB demonstrated the FOB diagnosis of tracheobronchial abnormality. While FOB detected 11 endoluminal lesions, VB detected 6. While FOB detected 20 obstructive lesions, VB detected 26. In evaluating external compression, FOB detected 2 lesions and VB detected 15.CONCLUSIONS:VB is a non-invasive, uncomplicated, and reproducible examination method in patients with an indication for thorax examination. Virtual bronchoscopy could find a clinically broader field of application in the future.

Correlation of the Imaging Findings with Bronchoscopic Findings for the Detection of Endobronchial Lesions: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…In the studies selected for this review, the size of the lesion was noted only in four, with a range from 1.5 mm to 140 mm (Table 4). Moreover, Adali et al [18] mentioned that VB detected easier lesions >50 mm.…”

“…All the patients were subjected to Fiberoptic Bronchoscopy (FOB) and imaging of the chest. The main techniques used for the imaging analysis of the chest were axial CT in seven studies [13,14,17,[19][20][21][22] and Virtual Bronchoscopy (VB) in three studies but the results were analyzed only in two of them [17,18,21]. Moreover, some other techniques of the imaging analysis were used, such as low-dose CT [16], super-high resolution CT (SHR-CT) [20], axial maximum intensity projection (MIP) images [15], coronal and sagittal multidetector CT (MDCT) [16], multiplanar reformatting (MPR) [22], volume rendering techniques (VRT) [22] and CT bronchography [14], each used once.…”

“…From those selected, 8 were excluded from this study, three papers did not compare the imaging with the bronchoscopic findings, two papers did not use the detection of the lesion as the target point of the study, in one, there was no recording of the imaging findings, in one there was no clear display of the statistical analysis of the results and in another, the selection of the patients included a high risk of bias [27][28][29][30][31][32][33] (Table 2). As a result, 10 articles were finally selected and analyzed for our review study [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23].…”

“…After reviewing the titles and abstracts, 18 articles met the criteria and were candidates for full text analysis [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][27][28][29][30][31][32][33]. The articles that were excluded in this first phase of selection were no relevant in the scope of this review.…”

“…The studies that were included in this review were prospective or retrospective studies concerning the imaging and bronchoscopic characteristics of endobronchial lesions [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23]. The individuals that were included in the studies were patients of any age with an endobronchial lesion which could be malignant, benign or undiagnosed.…”