Ochsner Medical Center – Baton Rouge now offers robotic-assisted bronchoscopy using the Ion robotic platform, a new, minimally invasive option for lung biopsy.

With bronchoscopy, doctors insert a long, thin tube with a camera to examine lung tissue and retrieve a biopsy sample.

The Ion robot enables doctors to perform a biopsy quicker and safer than ever before.

These advancements are especially critical for treating lung cancer, since early detection is key to achieving the best outcome.

Every six weeks of delayed treatment lowers a lung cancer patient’s five-year survival rate by 14%.

The Ion system enables physicians to reach very small nodules within the lung that would be difficult and risky to reach with traditional biopsy methods. Robot-assisted biopsies are also significantly safer for patients.

Traditional biopsy methods have a complication rate of 20-25% compared to 1-3% with robotic procedures.

“The Ion robot gives us state-of-the-art capability to access lung nodules of both size and location that were previously difficult or impossible to access through the airways,” says Alexander Mulamula, MD, who performed the first Ion procedure at OMC-Baton Rouge.

“Safety, reliability and diagnostic accuracy are always a premium, and the Ion delivers on all accounts.”

Source: Ochsner Health System