AIBAN-AI Bronchial Detection and Airway Navigation System

Accurate navigation within the lungs is critical for bronchoscopy procedures but remains challenging due to the complex airway anatomy. Artificial intelligence (AI) integrating real-time landmark detection and navigation guidance may enhance precision and safety.

We developed an AI Bronchial detection and Airway Navigation system (AIBAN) for bronchoscopy, combining airway lumen detection, anatomic localization, and navigation guidance. A YOLOv8-based detection module was used to identify 34 airway landmarks in real time. Next, an airway-level localization module estimated the bronchoscope's position using a hierarchical anatomic graph, identifying the deepest branch compatible with all coherent detections in each frame. A navigation module then recommended the next airway to follow along predefined anatomic paths, providing directional cues to perform a complete and systematic bronchoscopy.

AIBAN was developed on a data set of 18 bronchoscopy videos, using 15 for training and 3 for validation. In validation, the framework correctly identified the bronchoscope's location in 91.1% of the frames. In addition, 92.6% of predictions were within one airway branch of the true location, and 94.5% were within 2 branches. The navigation guidance performance was also promising, with the system following the correct anatomic pathway in 96.2% of test videos, demonstrating reliable guidance through the lungs.

AIBAN enables accurate airway detection, localization, and navigation guidance in a simulation-based setting. It can provide reliable guidance along predefined paths and precise spatial positioning and is a promising tool for medical training and has potential for future clinical implementation.