This is “Healthy Conversations,” a podcast presented by Adventist Health.

Deborah Howell:  Our lungs are so very important to our overall health. Today, let's find out about an exciting new technology for lung cancer detection. Here to discuss is Dr. Ross Michel, partner at Central Coast Chest ConsultantsSo happy to have you here today, Dr. Michel.

Dr Ross Michel: Good morning. Thanks for having me.

Deborah Howell (Host): Thanks for making the time. Let's dive right in. So lung cancer is the Leading cause of cancer deaths, but early detection can help improve survival rates. Ion a robotic-assisted platform for minimally invasive lung biopsy. Can you tell us more about Ion technology and how it's used?

Dr Ross Michel: Absolutely. Bronchoscopy technology has advanced with development of robotic-assisted bronchoscopy, also known as robotic bronchoscopy. This technology allows a doctor to take the flexible bronchoscope tube with precision using a robotic controller. The tube used in the robotic bronchoscopy is much smaller than that in a conventional bronchoscope and allows the doctor to move the small tube in precise ways to reach parts of lungs, which may not have been accessible with traditional bronchoscopy techniques. So when your doctor is controlling the robotic system, there's a 3D map of the patient's lung, which is shown on a video screen and allows the bronchoscopist to see exactly where the tube is in the person's lung and where it needs to go and guides the physician to get to a lung nodule, kind of like a GPS in a car.

Deborah Howell (Host): That's incredible. And how else is Ion a superior technology for lung biopsies?

Dr Ross Michel: It allows the bronchoscopist to go all over the chest, the peripheral lung, the central lung. It allows us to get to small nodules with good precision.

Deborah Howell (Host): So you kind of brought this up, but how far into the lungs can Ion reach to obtain tissue samples?

Dr Ross Michel: It can really go all over the chest. So almost all parts of the lung can be evaluated during a robotic bronchoscopy.

Deborah Howell (Host): That's incredible. What about precision?

Dr Ross Michel: Robotic bronchoscopy is a more precise procedure. It allows the bronchoscopist to move the scope in a precise small way. And it uses the virtual images to allow the doctor to accurately reach the small peripheral lung nodules.

Deborah Howell (Host): I understand that Ion technology is also extremely flexible. Could you speak to that?

Dr Ross Michel: So Ion technology has a very flexible, small bronchoscope that allows the bronchoscopist to go further and deeper into the lung and rotate into areas which we normally can't reach with conventional bronchoscopy. It also uses shape sensing technology to help the doctor locate a very small peripheral lung nodule.

Deborah Howell (Host): Well, this all sounds really remarkable, but what's the procedure like for a patient? Say I go in, what am I going to feel and experience?

Dr Ross Michel: So when patients are going to have a robotic bronchoscopy, first, they need to have a special CT scan, which can be entered into the robot, so the robot can help us navigate to their lung lesion. On the day of the bronchoscopy, the physician will meet with the patient and discuss all the risk and benefits of the procedure and the patient can expect to go under general anesthesia for the procedure to maximize comfort. And once the procedure is complete, the physician will go over all the results with the patient and they can expect to get the results usually within two working days.

Deborah Howell (Host): And what about after the procedure? Can they go home? Can they drive themselves home?

Dr Ross Michel: Most patients need a ride home from the hospital after sedation, but most patients go home on the same day.

Deborah Howell (Host): And can they go back to work the next day?

Dr Ross Michel: Most patients are able to go back to work the next day.

Deborah Howell (Host): That's pretty incredible. And for the kind of results we're seeing with Ion, again, the word remarkable comes to mind. Such a jump forward, right?

Dr Ross Michel: We've been really happy with the early results for our robotic system. We've been getting an excellent yield on our biopsies.

Deborah Howell (Host): And of course, diagnosis is half the trip to cure. What happens next after the patient gets their results?

Dr Ross Michel: Once the patient gets the results from bronchoscopic biopsies, we present the patient at tumor board and they're treated with an oncology team.

Deborah Howell (Host): Always it takes a village to treat the whole patient.

Dr Ross Michel: Absolutely.

Deborah Howell (Host): Is there anything else you'd like to add to our conversation today or tell us about Ion?

Dr Ross Michel: One advantage of a robotic bronchoscopy is that we can use the robot technology to biopsy peripheral lung lesions. But also at the same time, we can use, endo bronchial ultrasound to biopsy lymph nodes in the chest to have a complete staging of lung cancer in one single operation.

Deborah Howell (Host): That's huge. How is that different from how you operated in the past?

Dr Ross Michel: In the past, oftentimes, a peripheral lung nodule is biopsy, and then somebody has to have a separate procedure of bronchoscopy as a staging procedure to assess the lymph nodes in the chest. The advantage of robotic bronchoscopy is that, in one procedure, you can do a biopsy of a peripheral lung nodule. Also, at the same time, you can do a staging procedure to look at the lymph nodes in the chest to help, almost like one-stop shopping for making the diagnosis of lung cancer.

Deborah Howell (Host): Much easier on the patient.

Dr Ross Michel: much easier on the patient to undergo one procedure.

Deborah Howell (Host): Well, it's a new day and we really appreciate your time to tell us about Ion today, Dr. Michel.

Dr Ross Michel: Thank you so much.

Deborah Howell (Host): That's Dr. Ross Michel, partner at Central Coast Chest Consultants and Intensive Care Unit Director. I'm Deborah Howell. Thanks for listening and have yourself a great day. 

Disclaimer: This program is a community service and is not intended to be a substitute for medical advice. Listeners having questions about their health should make an appointment to see their personal physician. Any opinions or statements made during the program are those of the individuals or physicians making the statements and are not the opinions or statements of the hospital.