The Commercial Appeal

Bye-bye, biopsy

Baptist-desoto using high-tech tool to detect lung cancer

- By Yolanda Jones

Rosie Sagely, registered nurse at Baptist Memorial Hospital-DeSoto, examines computed tomography scans collected using a lighted bronchial scope. Used with a navigation­al guidance system, doctors use a three- dimensiona­l electromag­netic map of the lungs to detect lesions without the need for patient surgery.

Four years ago, if a patient at Baptist Memorial Hosptial-DeSoto had a spot on the lungs, he would have to have a biopsy and spend a few days in the hospital waiting to see if the lesion was cancerous.

Since then, the Southaven facility has invested in new technology that gives doctors a more precise way of diagnosing lung cancer.

It’s called superDimen­sion i-Logic lung navigation system. It is often referred to as a “GPS” for surgical lung treatment because it allows doctors using a three-dimensiona­l electro- magnetic map of the lungs to perform biopsies by guiding catheters deeper into the lungs without putting the patient through surgery.

“This technology is phenomenal,” said Dr. Michael Smith of Memphis Lung Physicians Foundation, a medical group that has partnered with Baptist-DeSoto.

Using the superDimen­sion system, Smith uses a bronchosco­pe, which looks like a video game joystick, to guide the catheter to oncehard-to-reach places in the lungs. If a patient is diagnosed with cancer, the technology also allows markers to be placed around the lesion so doctors can target the cancerous tissue.

“Five years ago, we would perform a CT scan on the lesion, and the patient would have to wait to see if it changed and then have another CT scan in a few months,” Smith said. “This new technology gives us an edge to diagnose cancer in the earlier stage or tell a patient that the lesion is benign.”

Smith has performed the outpa- tient procedure on several patients since the hospital bought the system in 2009, but many in the community still do not know that the hospital has this technology, said hospital spokeswoma­n Claire Hick.

“People sometimes think that when they have to have a certain treatment that they need to go somewhere else,” Hick said, “but our hospital in Southaven offers treatments that are the latest technology in the United States, and we have made the investment to have them here.”

 ??  ?? Pulmonolog­ist Dr. Michael Smith inspects a bronchial scope used in examinatio­ns for lung cancer at Baptist Memorial Hospital- DeSoto. The hospital bought the system in 2009 but many patients don’t yet know about it.
Pulmonolog­ist Dr. Michael Smith inspects a bronchial scope used in examinatio­ns for lung cancer at Baptist Memorial Hospital- DeSoto. The hospital bought the system in 2009 but many patients don’t yet know about it.

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