A robot-assisted bronchoscopy platform offers physicians a way to provide minimally invasive, robotic-assisted biopsies for suspected lung cancers is available at the Banner Boswell Medical Center https://www.BannerHealth.com/Boswell.
Performing biopsies in deeper parts of the lungs isn’t always easily accessible by conventional bronchoscopy. Using an ultra-thin catheter, the bronchoscopy platform allows a real time look into areas of the lungs that can be first affected by cancerous cells.
Lung cancer often isn’t found until the disease has progressed to an advanced stage. In fact, about 60% of newly diagnosed lung cancer patients are late stage, which can make them ineligible for surgery, according to the National Institutes of Health.
The decision to use the technology is especially helpful because in desert communities, Valley Fever, a fungal infection that affects the lungs, can present with the same symptoms as lung cancer and is a great mimicker of lung cancer.
According to Dr. Archan Shah, Interventional Pulmonologist at Banner MD Anderson Cancer Center at Banner Boswell Medical Center, “With this new technology, we can biopsy spots in difficult parts on the lungs and accurately confirm the diagnosis. This technology allows us to provide our patients with the most effective guideline consistent therapies as soon as possible.”