Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer death in the United States — claiming more lives than breast, colon and prostate cancers combined. In North Carolina and South Carolina, the burden is especially high, with some of the nation’s highest rates. Atrium Health Levine Cancer is using robots and innovation to tackle the issue.
Precision at the forefront: detection
The first step to treating cancer is finding it, which is why we use state-of-the-art robotic systems to catch lung cancer earlier and more accurately than ever before. A robotic bronchoscope is a minimally invasive tool that allows physicians to navigate deep into the lungs with precision, enabling earlier and more accurate biopsies of small nodules.
Pulmonologist Dr. Jaspal Singh says the robotic tools, along with CT imaging and advanced biopsy tools such as mini-cryobiopsies, allow him to more accurately localize and biopsy safely in hard-to-reach areas. “These tools allow our team to target and sample nodules even less than a centimeter, often in locations that we could not reach before. This level of accuracy significantly enhances our ability to diagnose cancer at an earlier stage, ultimately improving patient outcomes,” says Singh.
Atrium Health is one of the highest volume centers in the country for robotic assisted bronchoscopies. “The heart of our program is our procedural team, which includes not just the doctors but importantly, teammates from anesthesiology, respiratory therapy, nursing, and radiology,” says Singh. “Our program works well because we all work well together.”
Targeted robotic removal
Robotic technology is also transforming how we treat early-stage lung cancers once they are detected. This approach brings the known benefits of minimally invasive surgery to more lung cancer patients using ultra precise instrument arms that can mimic the motions of the human hand combined with high definition 3-D vision.
Dr. Jeffrey Hagen and his team of thoracic surgeons at Levine Cancer have completed thousands of robotic thoracic procedures since the program’s inception in 2018. This minimally invasive option means fewer post-op complications and a quicker recovery time for patients.
Innovative community outreach
Innovation at Atrium Health Levine Cancer isn’t confined to the operating room.
Since 2017, the team has operated the nation’s first Mobile Lung Screening Bus, a one-of-a-kind initiative that brings free, low-dose CT scans directly to communities across 29 counties in North and South Carolina.
Atrium Health also developed the first of its kind Lung Nodule Program so that when a nodule shows up in imaging scans, those nodules are flagged and routed to a team of specialists for follow-up.
“Every two minutes, someone in the U.S. is receiving a lung cancer diagnosis,” says Singh. “But there are lots of reasons for hope. Early detection through screenings and robotics is helping us find the cancer at earlier stages where we have more options to treat and cure this disease.”
Learn more about lung screening options and care at Atrium Health.
