Inspira Medical Center Vineland Among First in U.S. to Use Innovative Technology for Lung Cancer Diagnosis

Inspira Medical Center Vineland, part of Inspira Health, is now using Auris Health’s Monarch™ Platform to peer inside patients’ lungs and obtain tissue samples for biopsy. The new technology can help physicians make earlier and more-accurate diagnosis of small and hard-to-reach nodules in the periphery of the lung.

The technology integrates the latest advancements in robotics, software, data science, and endoscopy (the use of small cameras and tools to enter the body through its natural openings). Inspira Medical Center Vineland is among the first hospitals in the United States to utilize the platform, which was recently cleared by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). 

"Lung cancer survival rates improve significantly when cancer is caught at an early stage. This new technology will help us make a diagnosis earlier and allow us to reach smaller peripheral lung nodules that have been unreachable with other technologies,” said Charles Shieh, M.D., Thoracic Surgeon and Medical Director of Lung Cancer at Inspira Health. “We are excited about the promise of this new technology to offer a more hopeful future for our patients with lung cancer.”

There are several existing diagnostic options currently available for lung cancer, but all have limitations that can lead to false positives, false negatives, or side effects such as a collapsed lung or hemorrhage.

The Monarch Platform utilizes a familiar controller interface that physicians use to navigate the flexible robotic endoscope to the periphery of the lung, with improved reach, vision, and control. Combining traditional endoscopic views into the lung with computer-assisted navigation based on 3-D models of the patient’s own lung anatomy, the technology provides physicians with continuous vision of the area in question throughout the entire procedure.