A robot with advanced technology was recently put into use at a medical center in Burlingame, California, to assist doctors in bronchoscopy, specifically in viewing the bronchial tubes. The robot’s purpose is to streamline the doctors’ work, help them make faster and more accurate diagnoses, and take samples from tumors in challenging locations. By being able to locate difficult-to-reach nodules for biopsy, the robot aims to speed up the diagnosis process for patients with worrisome signs found during screening.
The robot functions by navigating the lungs based on a virtual map created from CT scans taken during screening. This allows doctors to have a real-time view of the lungs and safely take samples using a catheter. The developer of the robot, American Ph.D. Alexander Zider, has tested it on three patients and hopes it will be widely used in the future to improve the lung cancer diagnosis process and reduce anxiety in patients awaiting accurate diagnoses.
Lung cancer is a significant cause of cancer deaths in the United States and is among the most common cancers in Finland. The prognosis for localized lung cancer is generally better than for widespread lung cancer, making early detection crucial. The development and adoption of technologies like this robot can potentially improve outcomes for lung cancer patients by enabling faster and more accurate diagnoses.