WCLC Sept 2021 | Innovations in the diagnosis & staging of lung cancer
Christopher Manley, MD, Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, PA, describes recent innovations in the early diagnosis and staging of lung cancer. Robotic navigational bronchoscopy allows physicians to visualize and biopsy previously inaccessible lung nodules, enabling the earlier and more accurate diagnosis of lung cancer. The concurrent use of advanced imaging technologies such as cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) allows enhanced lung nodule visualization and could be used in the future to administer therapies directly to the lesion. Confocal laser endomicroscopy (CLE) is a novel imaging technique which provides real-time high resolution imaging of the airways and discrimination of tumor and benign lung tissue during bronchoscopy. This interview took place at the World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC) 2021.
Transcript (edited for clarity)
So the most recent innovation in the diagnosis, detection, and staging of lung cancer, has been the combination of robotic bronchoscopy and advanced imaging, such as cone beam CT. I think that the benefit of these two technologies is first in leveraging robotic navigational bronchoscopy, we’re able to advance our bronchoscopes further into the airways to get closer to small lung nodules that need to be diagnosed...
So the most recent innovation in the diagnosis, detection, and staging of lung cancer, has been the combination of robotic bronchoscopy and advanced imaging, such as cone beam CT. I think that the benefit of these two technologies is first in leveraging robotic navigational bronchoscopy, we’re able to advance our bronchoscopes further into the airways to get closer to small lung nodules that need to be diagnosed.
And by combining that with advanced imaging, such as cone- beam CT, or chest tomography, we’re able to visualize the nodules while we perform biopsies. And this is preparing us for the potential of having therapies down the road, meaning if we can safely get a needle or a tool into a lesion to sample it for diagnosis, it stands to reason that we could get a tool safely into a lesion for treatment.
One additional technology that we’ve been working with over the past year, is confocal endomicroscopy. This is a laser microscope, so small that it fits inside the tip of a needle. When we’re driving our bronchoscope out into the airways, we’re able to confirm in a real-time what the needle is seeing, meaning is the needle in contact with tumor cells, or is it in contact with benign lung tissue?
We’re hopeful that this technology allows us to reorient the tip of our bronchoscope for better biopsies and potentially, if we’re able to confirm tumor cells, to provide treatment in a single anesthetic period.
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Disclosures
Dr Manley serves as a consultant for Johnson and Johnson and Auris Health. He has received research grant funding from Mauna Kea and Johnson and Johnson.
