Florida Hospital Implements Cutting-Edge Robotics in Lung Cancer Treatment

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In Panama City, Florida, Ascension Sacred Heart Bay is pioneering advancements in lung cancer detection and treatment through cutting-edge technology.

The introduction of the “Ion Robotic-assisted Bronchoscopy system” alongside “Endo-Bronchial Ultrasound Technology” marks a significant leap forward.

This innovative system is minimally invasive. When a biopsy is needed for a lung nodule, the robotic technology acts like a GPS for physicians, guiding them directly to the nodule using detailed CT scans or images of the patient’s lungs.

This method not only accelerates the procedure but also enhances accuracy, offering a remarkable improvement over traditional techniques.

Pulmonologists say the ripple effect of efficiency is already being felt since the hospital introduced the state-of-the-art tech a couple of months ago.

“Less OR time, less recovery, less cutting things of that nature, and would allow us to take a biopsy of a smaller nodule,” Osteopathy Physician Dr.Megan Benedict said.

Benedict said the Ion robotic-assisted technology has been a huge advantage, from shorter recovery times after a biopsy procedure to an earlier diagnosis of cancer or an infection.

“We are doing things that are, you know, less invasive. So there’s less recovery time. There’s less need for being in the hospital, less taking away from the usual things that you like to do in life,” Dr.Benedict said.

It’s essentially a GPS navigation system. Dr.Benedict is the driver, precisely guiding a small catheter through the airways to a lesion or nodule.

Since they began implementing the technology with patients, Benedict said some procedures have taken as little as an hour, with the patient in and out of the hospital on the same day.

Dr. Benedict said if treatment is needed, the new technology helps them come up with a plan of attack faster, but it also helps them deliver good news quicker. This helps ease patient anxiety.

“It makes me feel very fulfilled in my job to be able to give an answer, or as you mentioned, the anxiety that’s involved with knowing that you have a nodule, waiting. ‘What am I doing about it? What should I do about it? Do I need to take a piece of it?’ All those unknowns. It allows us to get you answers faster, which I think brings a lot of relief,” Dr.Benedict added.

Dr. Benedict said that the expedited process has already allowed them to see more patients.

“If we did not have this process and we did not have this technology, a lot of those patients that we have done the procedure on would have likely still been waiting,” Dr. Benedict explained.

The technology also helps provide crucial staging information for cancer.

November is lung cancer awareness month.

Ascension Sacred Heart Bay officials want this to be your reminder to schedule a low-dose CT screening, especially if you are between the ages of 50 and 60, or a current or former smoker.