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Virtual Bronchoscopic Pathfinder (VBP): An Open-Source Web-Based System for Airway Segmentation, Cost-Field Path
Young Kim1, Sunggyu Choi2, Chulmin Park3
1Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Seoul National University, 1 Gwanak-ro, Gwanak-gu, Seoul 08826, Republic of Korea.
Tomography (Ann Arbor, Mich.)
|July 27, 2026
Summary
Virtual Bronchoscopic Pathfinder offers an open-source, web-based system for airway segmentation and navigation path generation. This tool enhances virtual bronchoscopy accessibility and reliability for pulmonary lesion targeting.
Area of Science:
- Medical Imaging Informatics
- Computational Pulmonary Medicine
- 3D Visualization
Background:
- Virtual Bronchoscopic Navigation (VBN) aids in targeting pulmonary lesions but faces adoption barriers due to proprietary software costs and segmentation inaccuracies.
- Failures in segmenting small airways disrupt path planning, limiting the clinical utility of current VBN systems.
Purpose of the Study:
- To introduce Virtual Bronchoscopic Pathfinder (VBP), an open-source, web-based system for automated airway segmentation, path generation, and 3D visualization.
- To overcome limitations of existing VBN systems by providing an accessible and robust alternative for pulmonary navigation.
Main Methods:
- Developed a VBP system integrating a deep learning model for airway segmentation, TotalSegmentator for tumor localization, and a C++ thinning algorithm for centerline extraction.
- Implemented a bidirectional Dijkstra algorithm with a multi-tier cost field for path planning and a vtk.js-based interface for zero-footprint 3D visualization.
- Validated the VBP system on 306 CT series from the Lung-PET-CT-Dx dataset.
Main Results:
- The VBP pipeline achieved an 89.2% success rate, generating complete navigation paths for 273 out of 306 valid CT series.
- The system successfully handled airway segmentation and path generation, demonstrating robustness across diverse datasets.
- The web-based interface operated without client-side installation on various devices, confirming its accessibility.
Conclusions:
- Virtual Bronchoscopic Pathfinder demonstrates the feasibility of constructing a reliable VBN workflow using entirely open-source components.
- The system's combination of advanced segmentation, cost-field path planning, and browser-based visualization offers a practical foundation for research and clinical guidance.
- VBP enhances accessibility and reliability in virtual bronchoscopy, paving the way for future intra-procedural guidance development.