Morphometric Examination of The Tracheobronchial Tree in Cases with Foreign Body Aspiration

Abstract

Objective: Recently, few studies have evaluated bronchial morphometric parameters focusing on bronchial length, diameter, or angles. These parameters can be an important indicator in various pathological processes and are essential for simulating the flow of aspiration and inspired particle transport. The aim of this study is to determine the trachea, the diameters of the right and left main bronchus, the angle of the carina and the angulations of the right and left main bronchus; To investigate the extent to its affects the foreign body aspiration localization. Methods: In this study, pediatric patients under the age of 18 who came with a history of foreign body aspiration and underwent computerized tomography between 2017 and 2020 were included in the study. The patients were evaluated in terms of age, gender, anatomical localization of the aspirated foreign body, diameter of trachea, right main bronchus, left main bronchus, carina angle, branching angles of right and left main bronchus on CT. Results: Of the cases in this study, 13 (56.5%) were female and 10 (43.5%) were male, It was observed that the aspirated foreign body was on the left side in 12 (52.2%) children, and on the right side in 11 (47.8%) children. The mean age of the patients was 5.52±4.86. The right bronchial angle (RBA) mean of the children with the foreign body on the left side was 39.04 ± 6.68, with a significantly wider angle compared to the mean RBA in the children with the foreign body on the right side (p=0.013). Conclusion: The factor affecting the localization of the foreign body is the branching angle of the right main bronchus. According to the results of our study, it has been observed that if this angle is less than 37, the object will be on the right side, and if it is 37 degrees and above, the object will turn to the left.