New equipment coming to Rideout
Cancer Center to install early lung cancer detection technology
When it comes to technology there is always a chance for error, but a new piece of early detection equipment headed to the Adventist Health/rideout Cancer Center will bring up the success rate dramatically, saving lives.
The existing lung cancer detection equipment uses static images to guide a surgeon through the biopsy process. Once a biopsy is completed, the surgeon can determine whether or not a suspicious mass or growth is cancerous. That comes with a 50-60 percent error rate, nationally, in the success of a biopsy.
Dr. Davinder Dhillon, a local pulmonologist, learned about a new piece of technology that nearly eliminated the error rate and took it to the Cancer
Center’s administrator, Margaret Murphy. When she heard about it, Murphy knew the organization and local community could benefit.
“What the new equipment will do is allow us to take live images in three-dimensions to see exactly where we are going. The current (biopsy) system is difficult to navigate through the different airwaves and vessels, but with the new system none of the images would be superimposed, and it brings up the success rate to 97 percent,” Murphy said.
The hardware connects to the center’s existing Xray machine, and the continuous images it takes fuses together a 3-D image that basically acts as a virtual simulator for doctors conducting biopsies.
When Murphy joined the Cancer Center team a few years ago, she learned that one of the biggest needs locally was with early detection and getting patients in sooner.
She said the area has one of the highest rates of late stage presentation for lung cancer in the nation, meaning more patients are coming in with a late diagnosis and not catching the disease early. As a patient’s cancer stage increases, their likelihood of surviving the disease decreases dramatically.
“Delays happen, but if someone is diagnosed and you wait, say, 90 days, they can go from Stage 2 to Stage 3, which is huge as far as the chance of survival goes,” she said.
Since arriving, Murphy helped the center develop a lung nodule program that is focused on early detection.
As part of the program, her team hired a nurse navigator whose sole responsibility is to conduct follow-ups for patients who have had chest CAT scans done that have come back positive for suspicious masses. The nurse assists and follows each patient through their path of care. The intent is to create a fasttrack process to help with diagnoses, rather than taking a more reactionary approach to treatment.
With the purchase of the new 3-D equipment, new software will be implemented that also helps with that process, automatically searching a particular patient’s records to identify key risk factors when found to have a suspicious mass or growth.
The center recently ordered the equipment, and Murphy expects it to arrive within the next month or two.
“The significance of this is huge,” she said. “The biggest impact will be with our patients, because we will now be able to catch these early stages of lung cancer a lot more efficiently. Adventist Health is committed to improving the health of the community and this equipment will play a significant role in achieving that goal.”
TODAY EVENTS
Art Everywhere galleries – a group of businesses and a public places displaying local art, including: The Brick Coffee House, Cafe, 316 D St., Marysville, Jonathan Beth; Justin’s Kitchen, 628 Plumas St., Yuba City, Chris Efstrati; Ting’s Refuge, 1501 Butte House Road, Yuba City, Mary Ann Nation; Yuba City City Hall, 1201 Civic Center Blvd., Yuba City, Dorothy Champion; Marysville City Hall, 526 C St., Marysville, Karen Fulk; Adventist Orthopedics, 370 Del Norte Ave., Yuba City, Foothill Art Society; Adventist Lab, 414 G St., Marysville, Foothill Art Society. Art Everywhere is part of Yuba Sutter Arts. For more information, call 742-2787 or visit www.yubasutterarts.org.
SUPPORT GROUPS
The Compassionate Friends, a grief support group for parents who have lost a child of any age from any cause, has a meeting from 6 p.m.-7:30 p.m. at the Yuba County Library, 303 Second St., Marysville. For more information, call 216 0141.