Retrospective Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2023. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Radiol. Apr 28, 2023; 15(4): 118-126
Published online Apr 28, 2023. doi: 10.4329/wjr.v15.i4.118
Detection of tracheal branching with computerized tomography: The relationship between the angles and age-gender
Şevket Kahraman, Mesut Furkan Yazar, Hüseyin Aydemir, Mecit Kantarci, Sonay Aydin
Şevket Kahraman, Mesut Furkan Yazar, Hüseyin Aydemir, Mecit Kantarci, Sonay Aydin, Depertmant of Radiology, Erzincan Binali Yıldırım University, Erzincan 24100, Turkey
Mecit Kantarci, Department of Radiology, Atatürk University, Erzurum 25240, Turkey
Author contributions: Aydin S drafted the manuscript; Kahraman S and Aydemir H edited and revised the manuscript; Kantarci M and Yazar MF approved the final version of the manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: The study was retrospective and could not be performed on an active concurrent human or animal subject.
Informed consent statement: Our institutional review board gave its approval to this retrospective study. Informed consent form was waiver by the institutional review board as a result of retrospective nature.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Şevket Kahraman, MD, Doctor, Depertmant of Radiology, Erzincan Binali Yıldırım University, Başbağlar, 1429. Street, 24100 Erzincan Merkez/Erzincan 24100, Turkey. sevketkahraman92@gmail.com
Received: December 26, 2022
Peer-review started: December 27, 2022
First decision: February 21, 2023
Revised: February 28, 2023
Accepted: March 24, 2023
Article in press: March 24, 2023
Published online: April 28, 2023
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background

This study is one of the few in the literature that uses the minimum intensity projection (MinIP) technique with multislice computed tomography (CT) to measure the branching angles of the tracheobronchial tree in pediatric and adult populations.

Research motivation

Our study is the first study in the literature to measure the angle values of the tracheobronchial system using the multislice CT and MinIP technique with the number of 1511 patients and to have the largest patient population including both pediatric and adult demographic data.

Research objectives

Our study's objectives are to fill the gaps in the literature by measuring the tracheobronchial branching angles in a large sample size population of pediatric and adult patients using the non-invasive multislice CT and MinIP technology.

Research methods

This study was carried out retrospectively. Patients who underwent contrast and non-contrast CT examination, whose anatomically and pathophysiologically good tracheobronchial system and lung parenchyma images were obtained, were included in the study. In the coronal plane, right main bronchus-left main bronchus angle, right upper lobe bronchus-intermedius bronchus angle, right middle lobe bronchus-right lower lobe bronchus angle, left upper lobe bronchus-left lower lobe bronchus angle were measured.

Research results

In our study, tracheal bifurcation angle was found to be 73.3° ± 13.7° (59.6°-87°) in the whole population. In the pediatric group, the right-left main coronal level was found to be higher in boys compared to girls. In the adult group, the right-left main coronal level was found to be lower in males compared to females.

Research conclusions

The tracheal bifurcation angle and the angle of the right middle lobe bronchus and the right lower lobe bronchus in the coronal plane increase statistically with increasing age.

Research perspectives

The date of this data will not only be a guide during invasive procedures, but it can also guide studies to be done with imaging methods.