Sparrow Hospital in Lansing is using robotic technology to look for early signs of lung cancer.
Sparrow recently became the first hospital in mid-Michigan to use robotics to perform a lung nodule biopsy.
Sparrow interventional pulmonologist Dr. Mohanad Saleh says the system creates a three-dimensional airway map of the lungs so physicians can spot lesions that could lead to cancer.
“If there’s is anything abnormal in front of us to take samples from, we can,” Saleh said. “It also allows us to take some deeper samples of the lungs and obtain biopsies as well.”
Saleh says robotics greatly reduce the time it takes to find lesions in the lungs.
“When we are able to reach small spots in the lung, that allows us to take a diagnosis faster,” he said. “We can stage the patient if he has lung cancer faster, then from there we get the treatment going.”
Saleh says robotics-assisted lung biopsies can be performed in as little as 90 minutes.
