Cook County Health introduces cutting-edge lung cancer detection technology

CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) - Cook County doctors are being equipped with a cutting-edge tool that makes diagnosing lung cancer safer, quicker, and more accurate.

Doctor Anne Levenson, the director of pulmonary procedures with Cook County Health, says the County now has a robotic lung cancer biopsy system.

“With the ION robotic bronchoscopy system, we can easily create a map with a route to the concerning nodule. We then navigate the robotic catheter through the lung to that nodule and take biopsies to figure out whether or not it is cancer. This is [a] safer and [a] more accurate way to diagnose early lung cancers,” Levenson says.

The  technology, which is now being offered at Stroger Hospital, is currently available at fewer than a dozen academic medical centers across the U.S.

According to the CDC, from 2017-2021 nearly half of all lung cancers were diagnosed at a distant stage, meaning the cancer had spread from the lungs to distant parts of the body.

“Lung biopsies are critically important for diagnosing cancer early, and this robotic navigational platform allows doctors to get to tumors in areas of the lung that typically would require more invasive approaches. Thanks to this investment, we’ll be able to get patients the testing we need, with higher diagnostic accuracy and less complications,” says Dr. Erik Mikaitis, interim CEO of Cook County Health.

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