Virtual bronchoscopy for diagnosis of inhalation injury in burnt patients.

Virtual bronchoscopy using a multislice CT scanner, is a new non-invasive imaging technique and its utility in the diagnosis of inhalation injury in burnt patients has not been reported in literature yet. Initial experience of technique is encouraging and it merits more interest. It overcomes many of the limitations of the presently established procedure of fibreoptic bronchoscopy. Ten burned patients with clinical suspicion of inhalation injury underwent this investigation and in eight of these the diagnosis was confirmed.