OCEAN SPRINGS, Miss. (WLOX) – Patients getting lung screenings can now get answers faster.
The new Intuitive Ion Robotic Bronchoscopy at Singer River Health System’s Ocean Springs Hospital can diagnose cancerous nodules that traditional procedures might have missed.
The robot allows pulmonologists easier access to the peripheral lung, where more than 70% of cancerous nodules are located.
“As you can see, lung cancer is a major problem. It has the highest mortality for all cancers. I think with this technology, along with our ability to screen patients is what’s going to bring the mortality down,” says Dr. Ijlal Babar, Director of Pulmonary Critical Care.
Traditionally, if you could not reach a nodule through bronchoscopy, tissue had to be surgically removed or patients had to undergo a needle biopsy.
“It’s less invasive than the old days where you have to go in there and get a sample. They can go in through your bronchus, your mouth, and diagnose it and get tissue out. This equipment gives them another tool they can use to diagnose lung cancer,” Chief Medical Officer Dr. Randy Roth explains.
Before recent technology advancements, nodules had to be sitting in an airway, or larger than three centimeters for doctors to reach them.
Dr. Babar says a cancerous nodule that is three centimeters or larger is a big threat.
The computer software in the robot acts as a navigation system.
“With this, we don’t have to rely on any of these things. Now, the computer generates a pathway for us and tells us this is where the nodule should be. Once we get to it, then we can actually verify whether we are in the nodule or not by different techniques.”
Better access to nodules in all segments of the lungs means quicker answers for patients.
“You have mammography for breast cancer, you have colonoscopy for colon cancer, I think people don’t realize that we can do low dose CT screening if you’re appropriate, catch a very early cancer on CT, get you to these guys and we can probably get in there and fix it and cure it if we catch it early,” Dr. Roth says.
Both doctors encourage appropriate patients to get an annual low-dose CT screening.
Catching lung cancer early on could make for a normal life expectancy.
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