O-arm CT for Confirmation of Successful Navigation During Robotic Assisted Bronchoscopy

Robotic assisted bronchoscopy (RAB) is designed to increase bronchoscopic accessibility for difficult to reach pulmonary lesions. One limitation to success of RAB is computed tomography (CT) to body divergence. Real time imaging with cone beam CT is increasingly utilized for confirmation of correct navigation and tool-in-lesion during RAB. O-arm CT is a 3-dimensional imaging modality, which has not previously been described for use with RAB. Our purpose is to display the feasibility, ease of use, and high rate of confirmation of tool-in-lesion when using O-arm CT during RAB.

Single center, retrospective review of 75 patients undergoing RAB with intraprocedural use of O-arm CT.

Median patient age was 65 years. Forty-nine percent of cases involved nodules ≤2 cm. Bronchus sign was absent in 44% of cases. Median procedure time was 80 minutes. Median number of O-arm CT runs per case was 2. The median effective dose of radiation was 7.2 millisieverts. Tool-in-lesion was confirmed in 97% (77 of 79) of cases. Definitive diagnosis was reached in 61 to 68 of 79 cases (77% to 86%). There were 2 cases of pneumothorax (2.5%), one of which needed intervention with tube thoracostomy.

O-arm CT is an effective, and convenient alternative to other 3-dimensional imaging modalities for intraprocedural confirmation of tool-in-lesion during RAB.