title: Virtual bronchoscopy.
abstract: The sophistication of three-dimensional (3-D) radiographic imaging from CT data has accelerated with the development and ongoing advances of helical CT. Virtual bronchoscopy (VB), the ability to create 3-D models of the airways and navigate through the tracheobronchial tree lumen in realtime simulated bronchoscopy, has gained popularity over the past 3 years. The ability of VB to image the airway and mediastinal structures simultaneously and in a 3-D format has helped revolutionize CT imaging. Unlike conventional bronchoscopy, VB can display the extent of narrowing caused by an airway lesion, the presence of patentcy beyond a stenosis, and the relationship between an airway lesion and the adjacent mediastinal structures.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: S L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Aquino
authors.forename: D J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Vining
mesh_terms: D001980:Bronchi / Q000473:pathology; D001999:Bronchoscopy; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000295:instrumentation*; D008168:Lung / Q000473:pathology; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000295:instrumentation*; D014584:User-Computer Interface