Commonwealth Health First to Offer Navigational Bronchoscopy
11/12/2018
SCRANTON, Pa. (Nov. 12, 2018) – An advanced form of bronchoscopy that uses navigation similar to a GPS system to detect early-stage lung cancer, is being performed for the first time in Northeastern Pennsylvania at Commonwealth Health Moses Taylor Hospital.
Navigational bronchoscopy, a new procedure that combines advanced imaging techniques with electromagnetic navigation to help find lesions almost anywhere in the lungs, works similar to a Global Position System in a car or phone. By using a CT scan, the navigation system creates a three-dimensional map of the lungs.
This procedure may be used to:
- Biopsy long nodules and masses almost anywhere in the lung
- Place markers to guide video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery
- Guide high-dose radiation catheters through marker insertion
This system allows physicians to more closely examine the lungs and diagnose and biopsy lung disorders and diseases previously not possible with standard bronchoscopy.
In a standard bronchoscopy, a doctor uses a bronchoscope, a thin flexible, fiberoptic tube, to examine the lung airways. The tube has a light source and video camera and is inserted through the nose or mouth, down into the throat through the trachea, or wind pipe.
There are several benefits to navigational bronchoscopy including:
- Greater precision and accuracy
- Increased detection and improved access
- Earlier diagnosis
- Allows for better treatment decisions since doctors can identify the specific stage and genetic characteristics of a tumor
- Eliminates the need for invasive surgery
Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer deaths locally and in the United States. The latest available statistics provided by the Northeast Regional Cancer Institute indicate that 2,312 people died of cancer of the bronchus and lung between 2010 and 2014, more than those who died of colorectal, pancreatic and breast cancer combined.
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