06/17/2022
A new innovation that can provide minimally invasive, robotic-assisted biopsies for suspected lung cancers is now available at Banner MD Anderson Cancer at Banner Boswell Medical Center, the first in metro Phoenix’s West Valley to offer this innovation.
Unveiled today, the robot-assisted bronchoscopy platform offers physicians a way to perform minimally invasive biopsies in the outer areas/deeper parts of the lung(s), which are not easily accessible by conventional bronchoscopy.
Using an ultra-thin catheter, the platform allows a real-time look into areas of the lungs that can be first affected by cancerous cells. It is highly maneuverable and able to pass around tight turns to reach far branches of the lungs.
Detection of these cancerous cells can be critical in the successful treatment of lung cancer, which is by far the leading cause of cancer death. 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.
“We are grateful to a caring community for donations through Sun Health Foundation that are essential to funding this new robotic technology,” says Gina W. Ore, chief philanthropy officer with Sun Health Foundation. “How reassuring it is to know this advancement in care doesn’t have to wait; it’s available now for patients to strengthen the fight against lung cancer and other diseases.”
The decision to use the technology is especially helpful because in desert communities such as Phoenix, Valley Fever, (aka Coccidioides) a fungal infection that affects the lungs, can present with the same symptoms as lung cancer.
