Patients with suspected lung cancers are to benefit from a new diagnostic procedure being offered at Whiston Hospital.
The hospital is the first in the Merseyside region to offer the procedure, called navigational bronchoscopy with radial probe. It is performed using the latest, advanced technology which creates a three-dimensional roadmap of the patient’s airways, which allows clinicians to reach much deeper into the lungs.
That roadmap guides your doctor through the airways of your lungs to the area containing the lung abnormality (nodule) to obtain tissue. A 360 degree ultrasound is then used to confirm position before samples are taken.
A lung nodule is a mass of abnormal tissue that can either be benign (non-cancerous) or malignant (cancerous). The tissue obtained during this procedure can be used for diagnosis and staging of cancer disease all in one procedure.
There are a number of reasons why a doctor may order a bronchoscopy, from a chronic cough, to symptoms indicating lung disease, to abnormal X-ray findings. A bronchoscopy allows the clinician to look inside your airway through a video camera, examine the lungs for abnormalities, and obtain tissue samples to help with diagnosis and treatment.
Dr Joanne Heaton, a Respiratory Consultant at Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “Early diagnosis plays a crucial role in combating lung cancer, which claims the lives of 35,000 individuals every year in the UK.
“The state-of-the-art equipment used in the procedure with the new bronchoscopes helps us perform the procedure with less complications and greater precision to obtain biopsies from lung abnormalities, primarily when there are suspicious of lung cancer. This technique is used for lesions that are further in the lungs and cannot be reached by ‘usual’ means.
“By being able to detect and biopsy even the smallest lesions this will help us to diagnose lung cancers early and with more accuracy and it will also allow us to class lesions as benign with more confidence.’’
She added: “We are delighted to be able to offer this procedure now. There are a host of benefits for our patients who previously would have been referred to hospitals outside of the area for similar investigations, which could have led to possible delays in their treatment.’’