Evaluation of tracheal bronchus in Chinese children using multidetector CT.
BACKGROUND
Tracheal bronchus is a congenital bronchial anomaly. The diagnosis should be considered early in intubated patients. Multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) is the newest modality for evaluating tracheal bronchus.


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the utility of 16-slice MDCT in children with tracheal bronchus and to characterize the frequency of tracheal bronchus in children with congenital heart disease.


METHODS
From June 2005 to May 2007, 3,187 consecutive children (1,124 with congenital heart disease and 2,063 without congenital heart disease) underwent MDCT examination. Minimum-intensity projection reconstruction was performed to show the tracheobronchial tree in every case.


RESULTS
Tracheal bronchus was found in 42 children (3.74%) with congenital heart disease but in only 6 children (0.29%) without congenital heart disease. Among the 48 children with tracheal bronchus, 45 had right-side tracheal bronchus and 3 had bilateral tracheal bronchi with heterotaxy syndrome. The diagnostic sensitivity of MDCT was 100% (48/48).


CONCLUSIONS
MDCT is a reliable imaging technique for the diagnosis of tracheal bronchus. Our data showed that right-side tracheal bronchus was more common and bilateral tracheal bronchi usually occurred with heterotaxy syndrome. In addition, tracheal bronchus often occurred with congenital heart disease. The angle between the tracheal bronchus and the trachea is important and should be measured.
Ming
Zhu
Z
Department of Radiology, Shanghai Children's Medical Center, Shanghai, China. zhuming58@vip.sina.com
Lin
Zhang
Z
D001980:Bronchi / Q000002:abnormalities*; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002681:China; D003287:Contrast Media; D005260:Female; D006330:Heart Defects, Congenital / Q000150:complications; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007472:Iohexol; D008297:Male; D011857:Radiographic Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods*; D014132:Trachea / Q000002:abnormalities*
D003287:Contrast Media; D007472:Iohexol