ABSTRACT
Technological improvements in bronchoscopic optical imaging are expanding our capability to evaluate the airways in a minimally invasive fashion to the microscopic and molecular level.
White light bronchoscopy (WLB) is the most commonly used diagnostic imaging modality for evaluation of the central airways. It uses reflectance imaging that utilizes the optical properties of reflection, backscattering, and absorption of broadband visible light (~400-700 nm). It has been used via flexible bronchoscopy since its development in 1970 by Dr. Shigeto Ikeda and enables rapid macroscopic evaluation of the central airways (Ikeda et al. 1971). Initially, flexible bronchoscopes utilized fiberoptic technology but the subsequent development of color video chip technology (CCD) and incorporation into video bronchoscopes has improved the quality of white light images (Chhajed et al. 2005). Conventional white light bronchoscopy has a high diagnostic yield for proximal tumors but has a limited ability to detect small premalignant and preinvasive bronchial lesions (Chhajed et al. 2005; Woolner et al. 1984).
