BronchoX: bronchoscopy exploration software for biopsy intervention planning

• Published in: Healthcare technology letters 2018-10, Vol.5 (5), p.177-182
• Main Authors: Ramírez, Esmitt, Sánchez, Carles, Borràs, Agnés, Diez-Ferrer, Marta, Rosell, Antoni, Gil, Debora
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Algorithms; Biopsy; biopsy intervention planning; bronchioles; Bronchoscopy; bronchoscopy exploration software; BronchoX; C plus plus; computerised tomography; Geometry; image segmentation; Intervention; Libraries; lung; medical computing; medical image processing; Medical imaging; medical software developers; navigation; Navigation systems; noninvasive exploration tool; Open source software; path planning; physician readable instructions; Planning; PLs; pneumodynamics; Programming languages; pulmonary lesions; respiratory tract; segmentation; Special Issue: Papers from the 12th Workshop on Augmented Environments for Computer-Assisted Interventions; Surgery; trachea; Ultrasonic imaging; VB software; virtual bronchoscopy; virtual paths planning; visualisation
• ISSN: 2053-3713; 2053-3713
• DOI: 10.1049/htl.2018.5074

Virtual bronchoscopy (VB) is a non-invasive exploration tool for intervention planning and navigation of possible pulmonary lesions (PLs). A VB software involves the location of a PL and the calculation of a route, starting from the trachea, to reach it. The selection of a VB software might be a complex process, and there is no consensus in the community of medical software developers in which is the best-suited system to use or framework to choose. The authors present Bronchoscopy Exploration (BronchoX), a VB software to plan biopsy interventions that generate physician-readable instructions to reach the PLs. The authors’ solution is open source, multiplatform, and extensible for future functionalities, designed by their multidisciplinary research and development group. BronchoX is a compound of different algorithms for segmentation, visualisation, and navigation of the respiratory tract. Performed results are a focus on the test the effectiveness of their proposal as an exploration software, also to measure its accuracy as a guiding system to reach PLs. Then, 40 different virtual planning paths were created to guide physicians until distal bronchioles. These results provide a functional software for BronchoX and demonstrate how following simple instructions is possible to reach distal lesions from the trachea.