Clinical Benefits of Narrow Band Imaging Bronchoscopy in Central Lung Cancer / 결핵및호흡기질환

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Lung cancer is usually diagnosed at an advanced stage, resulting in a poor prognosis. The detection of these lesions at an earlier stage would be a clear benefit to patients. However, it is extremely difficult to detect carcinomatous lesions in the bronchial mucosal sites during a routine bronchoscopy. METHODS: This study employed a novel optical technique, known as narrowband imaging (NBI), which allows noninvasive visualization of the microvascular structure of an organ's surface using reflected light. RESULTS: Narrow band imaging was performed on 10 patients who were radiologically suspicious or had a high risk of lung cancer. The median age of the patients was 57.5 years (range, 44~81 years), and 80% of the patients were male. All lesions showed a microvascular proliferation pattern (dotted, tortuous and abruptly ending vessel) on the magnified NBI. Two lesions were confirmed histologically to be adenocarcinoma and the remaining lesions were squamous cell carcinomas. Two lesions were confirmed histologically to be a carcinoma in situ. CONCLUSION: NBI is a promising and potentially powerful tool for identifying carcinomas at an earlier stage or a central lesion during a routine bronchoscopy examination.