Good Samaritan Medical Center’s Comprehensive Lung Health Program now offers minimally invasive procedures using Covidien’s superDimension™ System. With the assistance of the navigation system, LungGPS™, the technology enables physicians to perform Electromagnetic Navigation Bronchoscopy™ (ENB) procedures to obtain lung tissue biopsies from the peripheral regions.The superDimension™ is designed so that physicians can navigate and access difficult-to-reach areas of the lungs from the inside, so patients with cancer can receive treatment as soon as possible, and those with benign lesions can avoid unnecessary procedures.
“This significant advancement may aid in the diagnosis of lung cancer and potentially overcome limitations of traditional diagnostic approaches including bronchoscopy, needle biopsy and surgery,” said Dr. Robert Scoma, a thoracic and cardiac surgeon on the medical staff at Good Samaritan Medical Center. “The system is designed to guide surgeons through the complicated web of pathways inside the lungs, so that we’re able to access and sample target tissue throughout the entire lung without surgery or a needle biopsy.”
The superDimension™ System planning software uses CT scan images to create a 3D bronchial tree of the thousands of tiny pathways to pulmonary targets inside the lungs. The LungGPS™ technology then provides a roadmap that is designed to allow physicians to guide tiny tools through the lung pathways so they can take tissue samples of the lesion and place markers for future treatment.
