Use of videobronchoscopic narrow band imaging compared with white light in diagnosing some bronchopulmonary diseases

Abstract

ObjectiveNarrow band imaging (NBI) videobronchoscopy is an advanced technique aiming at obvious mucosal vasculature detection. This study investigated its role in diagnosing some bronchopulmonary diseases, compared with white light videobronchoscopy (WLB).MethodsIn this study, we evaluated 30 patients presenting with different bronchopulmonary diseases and 15 controls presenting with chronic cough for at least 3 months. Full airway examination was done by fiberoptic bronchoscopy first under WLB then under NBI. Multiple biopsies were taken from susceptible lesions; pathological interpretation was performed.ResultsIn the present study, the most frequent presentations in CT scan in group A were lung masses in 16 patients. Endobronchial masses were detected in 8 patients by both WLB and NBI, all (100%) were pathologically positive by NBI compared to 7 patients (87.5%) by WLB. Eight patients were presented with peripheral masses, 4 patients (50%) were pathologically positive while none of them (0%) was positive by WLB samples.NBI showed better sensitivity and accuracy in comparison to WLB (100% and 90.0% in NBI and 52.94% and 63.33% in WLB respectively), with similar specificity (76.92%).ConclusionsNBI is a safe and effective modality that can be used in combination with WLB to improve the in diagnosis of different bronchopulmonary disorders particularly lung cancer. It proved to be more sensitive and accurate than WLB alone. NBI could have a better diagnostic yield than WLB for lung cancer especially in peripheral lung masses. NBI is useful for characterization of vascular pattern of malignant lesions of the bronchial mucosa.