DIAGNOSTIC EFFICACY OF VIRTURAL BRONCHOSCOPY

工作总结：该项目是一个新的有效性测试， 用于成像被称为虚拟支气管镜检查的气道的诊断方法。 虚拟支气管镜检查是通过获取薄层计算机 胸部断层扫描（CT）图像。这些图像用于生成 气管和支气管壁的三维模型， 图形工作站模型可以被操纵以允许观察者 "飞越"气管支气管树，提供类似于 在支气管镜检查中获得的。这项技术可以显示 以一种容易理解的形式描述人类支气管系统。而且 允许检查支气管树的狭窄后部分 纤维支气管镜无法检测到的病变中的患者 该方案具有炎性、感染性或肿瘤性肺 由于临床原因，可能会进行胸部CT。来 在过去的两年里，我们开发了用于导航的软件技术， 在虚拟支气管镜检查研究中， 技术，以提高这些研究的效率和准确性。我们 也在增加那些既有纤维， 光学支气管镜和仿真支气管镜，以比较两者 方法.我们对空洞性肺进行了描述性分析， 病变最后，我们开发了自动化技术， 在定位和表征支气管内病变的医生。我们 预期虚拟支气管镜检查将在诊断上有效 对于引起支气管形态改变的疾病， 解剖学

Summary of Work: This project is a test of the efficacy of a new diagnostic method for imaging the airways known as virtual bronchoscopy. Virtual bronchoscopy is performed by acquiring thin-section computed tomography (CT) images of the chest. These images are used to generate a three-dimensional model of the tracheal and bronchial walls on a graphics workstation. The model can be manipulated to allow the viewer to "fly through" the tracheobronchial tree providing views similar to those obtained during bronchoscopy. The technique produces a display of the human bronchial system in a readily understood format. Moreover, it allows investigation of post-stenotic portions of the bronchial tree that are beyond the reach of fiber-optic bronchoscopy. The patients in this protocol have inflammatory, infectious, or neoplastic pulmonary processes and would have had chest CT for clinical reasons. Over the past 2 years, we have developed software techniques for navigating inside virtual bronchoscopy studies and have developed image processing techniques to improve the efficiency and accuracy of these studies. We are also in the process of accruing patients who have had both fiber optic bronchoscopy and virtual bronchoscopy in order to compare the two methods. We have performed a descriptive analysis of cavitary lung lesions. Finally, we have developed automated techniques to assist physicians in locating and characterizing endobronchial lesions. We anticipate that virtual bronchoscopy will be diagnostically efficacious for disorders that produce a morphologic alteration of bronchial anatomy.