Chest radiography
Chest tomosynthesis (SONIALVISION safire series)
Chest CT
Examination time
Several seconds
Several tens of seconds
Several minutes
Performance when detecting lesions that are difficult to visualize
Limited capability of showing ground-glass opacity lesions and nodules that overlap with the mediastinum or diaphragm
Capable of showing nodules and ground-glass opacities (inferior to CT) (at the edge of its field of view range)
Capable of showing nodules and ground-glass opacities
System cost
Low
Medium
High
Space requirements for system installation
Small
Medium
Large
Image reconstruction and display
Only displayed in the direction of radiography
Capable of reconstructing any coronal plane section
Capable of reconstruction along any plane
Dedicated system for image reconstruction (workstation)
None
Dedicated workstation
Dedicated (multifunctional) workstation
Exposure dose
Low
Low to medium
Medium to high (low-dose CT = medium)
Imaging range
Medium
Medium (somewhat narrow)
Wide
Metal artifacts
None
Few
Many
Use with bronchoscopy procedures
Only for display of mapping images
Capable of X-ray fluoroscopy (supports procedures in real time)
CT-guided bronchoscopy
15.2 Real-Time Tomosynthesis-Guided Bronchoscopy
Regardless of the procedure (endoscopy, angiography, gastrointestinal fluoroscopy, or surgery), real-time image capture by tomosynthesis is important in making the procedure easier and to improve precision. We have investigated real-time tomosynthesis-guided bronchoscopy, a new technique that enables confirmation of the position of biopsy instruments, such as forceps or needle, inside a lesion, along transverse and anteroposterior directions. Normal fluoroscopy is quite capable of confirming positions in a transverse direction but has trouble confirming positions in the anteroposterior plane. To date, confirming the position of biopsy instruments in the anteroposterior direction has required the use of a C-arm or manual shifting of a patient in the lateral recumbent position during examination. Confirming the position of a lesion is not always easy due to the presence of mediastinal structures. The use of tomosynthesis to capture images will make it very easy to ascertain and correct the positional relationship between a peripheral pulmonary lesion and the biopsy instruments. An illustration of an actual examination setup is shown in Fig. 15.1. The biopsy instrument inside the lesion can be confirmed on the tomosynthesis screen by reconstructing contiguous cross sections in the anteroposterior direction from the back through the anterior chest (Figs. 15.2 and 15.3). However, movement of the gantry in a longitudinal direction along the body for tomosynthesis prevents the operator from standing at the head of the patient during bronchoscopy; instead, the operator needs to be positioned on the side of the patient (Fig. 15.1), making control of the bronchoscope somewhat difficult. Techniques that have real-time imaging capabilities need further development. In addition, making the capture of tomosynthesis images possible by gantry movement in both transverse and lateral directions will certainly increase the amount of freedom allowed to the operator during procedures.