CHRISTUS Spohn doctor uses new technology to detect, treat lung cancer earlier

Patients with lung cancer are getting a fighting chance at life with new technology at CHRISTUS Spohn Hospital Corpus Christi-Shoreline. The Ion Robotic Navigational Bronchoscopy platform is a minimally invasive biopsy that detects and treats lung cancer earlier.

This is the first and only technology of its kind in the Coastal Bend.

Dr. Rajeev Narang, Pulmonologist at CHRISTUS Spohn, told KRIS 6 News reporter if he and his team can diagnose the disease in patients earlier, the bigger difference he can make in their lives.

According to the American Cancer Society , lung cancer is the second most common cancer in both men and women in the U.S. By the time Narang sees a lung cancer patient, he said they're likely to already be at stage 3 or stage 4. At that point, patients only have a 26% chance of living past 5 years.

“If you diagnose the disease very early, in stage 1A, the 5-year mortality is 92%, which is a lot better than 26%," Narang said.

After a patient undergoes an evaluation and CT scans, the data is entered into the robotic system. The machine then creates a pathway map for the doctors.

“This will give us a pathway, the best pathway, to reach that legion which is very, very deep and hidden in the lung," Narang said. "We can get to that site very precisely and then we have a chance to biopsy that."

Catching the disease early is what Rosabel Garcia-Garza did with her husband. He is battling stage 1 lung cancer after Garza said she noticed he wasn’t looking like himself.

“So I made him a doctor’s appointment, which he did not want to go do, but eventually, he did do it," Garza said. "I told him something is wrong. So if you see something different, do wait until it’s too late. Get on it, get on it.”

The hospital has only had the new Ion Robotic technology for two weeks. They've used it on six patients, so far.

Narang is hoping to work with other Texas hospitals in advancing medical care for lung cancer patients.

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