Methylene Blue-Aided In Vivo Staining of Central Airways during Flexible Bronchoscopy
Figure 1
(a) Occluding tumour growth in the mainstem left bronchus (squamous cell cancer of the lung) in white light bronchoscopy (left) and chromobronchoscopy after staining with methylene blue (right). The tumour shows only small areas with a weak blue staining. The main part of the tumour remained unstained. (b) Occluding tumour growth in the right upper lobe (metastasis of colorectal cancer) in white light bronchoscopy (left) and chromobronchoscopy after staining with methylene blue (right). The tumour is stained bright blue to green whereas the noninfiltrated mucosa remained largely unstained. (c) Small exophytic tumour growth in the right lower lobe bronchus (adenocarcinoma of the lung) in white light bronchoscopy (left) and chromobronchoscopy after staining with methylene blue (right). In contrast to the surrounding mucosa, the malignant tissue remained unstained.
