MercyOne North Iowa Medical Center adds lifesaving technology to help treat and diagnose lung cancer

Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer death, largely because it often goes undiagnosed until the disease has advanced, making it more difficult to cure. 

MercyOne North Iowa Medical Center is the first in the region to offer a robotic-assisted platform for minimally invasive lung biopsies, enabling doctors to obtain tissue samples more easily for early detection and staging of lung cancer.

Diagnosing lung cancer often requires a biopsy of lung nodules, most of which are in the lung’s outer third. This area contains tight spaces and narrow airways that a traditional bronchoscope can't easily reach. Ion navigational bronchoscopy can access these hard-to-reach areas of the lung.

"Ion navigational bronchoscopy is a significant advancement in the early detection of lung cancer for our patients," said Sadam Haddadin, MD, MercyOne North Iowa pulmonologist. "It gives pulmonologists a minimally invasive way to access areas of the lung that were previously nearly impossible to reach and to biopsy lung nodules for an immediate diagnosis. Detecting lung cancer at an earlier stage can improve patient outcomes and give them a better chance of survival."

Dr. Haddadin started using the robotic platform on November 5. 

Before Ion, a common way to identify and biopsy suspicious lung nodules was to use live CT imaging and a needle, entering the chest wall and lung from the outside. However, this biopsy method carries a significant risk of collapsing the lung, which can require hospitalization for some patients. Ion's minimally invasive lung biopsy is safer and allows faster recovery.

Before the biopsy, Ion software uses a CT scan of the lungs to generate 3D airway images that map a pathway to the suspicious nodule. With Ion's vision probe, physicians have a real-time view of the airway. Next, they insert the ultra-thin Ion catheter, which travels through the mouth and throat to the patient's lung via an endotracheal tube. This procedure has fewer complications than a needle inserted from outside the body.