November is Lung Cancer Awareness Month and a new robot is changing the way doctors at Norton Healthcare can detect the disease.
The new procedure, called the Robotic-Assisted Bronchoscopy, is hard at work at both Norton Hospital Downtown and Norton Audubon Hospital. It allows a doctor to use a small tube to scope the lungs and air passages, reaching all 18 segments of the lung, including the ends of the passageways, where 70-percent of nodules develop.
The process makes it easier to test nodules and diagnose possible lung cancer.
The new procedure also allows doctors and pathologists to see results in real time.
It’s important in Louisville because Kentucky ranks among the worst in the country in lung cancer rates.
Dr. Samantha Baah, a Critical Care Pulmonologist with Norton Pulmonary Specialists, said with this technology, we are able to get to areas that we previously monitored a lot safer, and I would say we are being more aggressive about getting to nodules that are smaller and not waiting for those patients to advance in their cancer.
Smoking and radon exposure are two of the biggest risk factors for lung cancer. Signs and symptoms can vary, but often include coughing (sometimes even coughing up blood), weight loss, night sweats and chills.
Source: WAVE
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