title: Low-dose MDCT and virtual bronchoscopy in pediatric patients with foreign body aspiration.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to investigate the potential use of low-tube-current MDCT virtual bronchoscopy for the evaluation of children with suspected foreign body aspiration.
  
  
  METHODS
  Low-tube-current MDCT was performed in 23 patients (10 girls, 13 boys) with a mean age of 3.3 years (9 months-13 years) with suspicion of foreign body aspiration. Chest radiographs were obtained before CT was performed. MDCT was performed using 25- to 50-mA tube currents. MDCT virtual bronchoscopy images were obtained. Neither sedation nor IV contrast medium was used during CT scanning. All patients underwent endoscopic evaluation within 24 hr after MDCT was performed. MDCT virtual bronchoscopy findings were retrospectively compared with the results of rigid bronchoscopy.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean tube current was 35 mA (range, 25-50 mA). Imaging quality was excellent in nine studies (39%), good in 12 studies (52%), and poor in two studies (9%). Motion artifacts were present on several slices in five examinations. In 15 patients, all foreign bodies detected by conventional bronchoscopy were also revealed on MDCT virtual bronchoscopy. The foreign body was in the right main bronchus in six patients, in the bronchus intermedius in one patient, and in the left main bronchus in eight patients. No discordance was found between the two techniques. MDCT revealed hyperaeration of the ipsilateral lung in five patients, atelectasis in five patients, infiltration in three patients, and infiltration and bronchiectasis in two patients; it showed infiltration in four patients and atelectasis in one of eight patients without a foreign body detected. There were no abnormal findings in three patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Evaluation of foreign body aspiration of the airway in children can be accomplished by using a low-tube-current MDCT protocol. It may be useful both in showing the exact location of a foreign body before bronchoscopy and in ruling out a foreign body in patients with a low level of suspicion and normal or nonspecific findings on chest radiography.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Medical School of Karadeniz Technical University, Farabi Hospital, Trabzon 61080, Turkey.
authors.forename: Polat
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Koşucu
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ahmetoğlu
authors.forename: Ismail
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Koramaz
authors.forename: Fazil
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Orhan
authors.forename: Oguzhan
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Ozdemir
authors.forename: Hasan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Dinç
authors.forename: Ayşenur
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Okten
authors.forename: Halit Reşit
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Gümele
mesh_terms: D016477:Artifacts; D001980:Bronchi; D001999:Bronchoscopy / Q000379:methods*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005547:Foreign Bodies / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D007223:Infant; D001239:Inhalation; D008297:Male; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods*; D014132:Trachea / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D014584:User-Computer Interface