Virtual bronchoscopy aids management of lung cancer

Abstract

The development of CT scanning has been beneficial for clinical medicine. In this case, virtual bronchoscopy (VB) was of clinical benefit. A 71-year-old woman with suspected lung cancer in the upper left lobe remained undiagnosed after investigation at another hospital. VB was used to confirm the location of the tumour, which facilitated an appropriate trans-bronchial lung biopsy being performed. The volume-rendering technique yielded information regarding an arterial anomaly, allowing high-quality and safe medical treatment to be provided. VB assists navigation in bronchoscopy, and the volume-rendering technique is effective in finding congenital anomalies of the vessels during preoperative assessment.

Radioanatomical Study of the Bronchovascular Anomalies of the Middle and Lower Lobes of the Right Lung Using Multidetector Computed Tomography

“…The usefulness of VR in the management of lung cancer patients with arterial anomalies was reported previously [21]. In the present study, MIP, MinIP, and VR images of patients with such abnormalities were obtained.…”

Endobronchial removal of the high-risk osseous foreign bodies with evaluation and planning by virtual navigation system

“…VBN system is a preoperative evaluation and navigation system especially designed for pulmonologists and interventional pulmonologists, then the pulmonologists are able to use the VBN system for the preoperative evaluation without difficulties, so the change of the operator for data construction is beneficial to the endoscopic procedure. Moreover, functions that modern VBN possesses can also be expanded to the area of endobronchial therapeutic procedures [7], such as locating and evaluating bronchial pleural fistula and assisting in its endobronchial management [8]. It can also be used to locate and evaluate airway foreign body in child and assist in the strategy of endoscopic removal.…”