• backgroundThe fiber-optic bronchoscopy (FOB) is considered the ‘gold standard’ for the detection and diagnosis of tracheobronchial pathologies. However, it has potentially hazardous complications in severely ill patients. Virtual bronchoscopy allows the non-invasive evaluation of endoluminal lesions and airway stenoses. The aim of this study was to compare the results of virtual bronchoscopy (VB) images in defining tracheobronchial pathologies with those of fiber-optic bronchoscopy (FOB) in patients with clinical and/or radiological indications for bronchoscopy methods The study included 33 patients who were suspected to have tracheobronchial tree abnormalities on clinical and/or radiological basis and indicated for fiber-optic bronchoscopy. Fiber-optic bronchoscopy and Virtual bronchoscopy were done results Virtual bronchoscopy detected obstructive lesions (complete or partial) as effectively as FOB with sensitivity and specificity of 95.8% and 100% respectively.conclusions VB is a non-invasive, uncomplicated and reproducible examination method |
