MDCT of trachea and main bronchi

Abstract

Tracheobronchial imaging has undergone a major revolution since the advent of MDCT. The improved spatial and temporal resolution not only allows reformatting images that enhance the comprehension of disease before bronchoscopy or surgery, it has introduced newer techniques such as dynamic expiratory imaging to evaluate for tracheomalacia, which can be a subtle, but a confounding entity for patients and clinician alike. Tracheobronchial diseases can be arbitrarily divided into those that cause focal and diffuse narrowing and widening. Such groupings can help develop a practical approach in evaluating diseases of the central airways.