KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) – For twenty years, hospitals in East Tennessee have been using robots to assist in operations.
In 2022, Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center added the Ion Robotic-Assisted Lung Biopsy Platform to help detect and locate lung cancer.
The device, also called the “GPS of the Lungs,” is in East Tennessee for the first time after Fort Sanders and Covenant Health brought the device to the hospital.
“That gives me a 91-92% chance of making it, which is very high when you’re talking about lung nodule biopsies,” said Dr. Varun Shah.
Shah said this new device gives him the ability to detect cancer and reach parts of the lungs that were unreachable with other methods. In turn, it allows them to detect cancer earlier in the process.
According to Shah, on average, only 25% of all cancer patients nationwide had their cancer detected at stage one. He added that in the more than two years they have been using this new resource, they have seen 85% of their lung cancer patients at Fort Sanders have their cancer detected at stage one.
“The chance of survival is greater and the chance of a good quality of life in the future is greater,” Shah said.
Not only can Fort Sanders doctors now detect cancer earlier, but they combine this with their robotic surgery technology, shortening a process that normally takes months to weeks.
David Graham said that when this technology is used to operate on lung cancer patients, only five small incisions are generally needed to remove the cancer.
The robot’s assistance enables more precise cuts and, according to Graham, has been proven to make patients feel more comfortable.
“Patients can get up and walk around the same day and look as if they hadn’t had surgery,” Graham said.
These surgical instruments were displayed outside the Knoxville Convention Center on Wednesday for several Knox County students and medical professionals from across the region to view.
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