BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) — Baton Rouge General (BRG) has acquired new state-of-the-art lung cancer-fighting technology — and they said it’s the first in Louisiana.
The FDA-approved Monarch™ Platform can be used to see inside lungs and obtain tissue samples for biopsies, according to a news release from BRG. Hospital officials said the Monarch™ Platform combines robotics, software, data science and endoscopy to diagnose “hard-to-reach” lung nodules.
Photos courtesy of Baton Rouge General
“Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide, in part because it has no symptoms in its early stages,” said Dr. Stephen Brierre, chief of critical care and pulmonology at BRG. “Lung cancer screenings with low dose CT scans have helped improve survival for patients, but there is more work to do. Current technology has several limitations, including the ability to biopsy and detect cancer in small and difficult-to-reach nodules. With the addition of the minimally invasive Monarch technology, we can reach these nodules, leading to safer, quicker diagnosis, and the potential for a cure.”
Hospital physicians are slated to start training with the Monarch™ Platform in November.