Mercy Health physician and pulmonologist Mohamad Khoudoud, MD, is the first doctor in the Paducah region to use an innovative technology called robotic bronchoscopy to help diagnose lung nodules earlier and more accurately.
Dr. Khoudoud trained on Auris Health’s Monarch™ Platform and he completed Lourdes Hospital’s first two cases with the new technology on May 9, 2022.
The Monarch™ Platform integrates advancements in robotics, software, data science and endoscopy (the use of small cameras and tools to enter the body through its natural openings) to help pulmonologists access smaller nodules. Once there, doctors can take tissue biopsies from peripheral areas of the lung that previous tools were challenged to reach, allowing for earlier and more accurate diagnosis.
“The diagnostic tools we’ve had available cannot go beyond the third or fourth generation of airways. That put smaller, potentially disease-indicating nodules beyond our reach. The robotic bronchoscope goes where other scopes cannot, which allows me to reach up to the seventh generation of an airway and take a tissue sample for biopsy," Dr. Khoudoud said.
In its early stages, lung cancer is symptom-free. Doctors typically find it at an advanced stage, resulting in lung cancer survival rates of less than 10 percent. While diagnostic options for lung cancer are available currently, they have limitations in accuracy, safety or invasiveness.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cleared the Monarch™ Platform for use recently. It utilizes a familiar controller-like interface that doctors use to navigate the flexible robotic endoscope to the periphery of the lung. Combining traditional endoscopic views into the lung with computer-assisted navigation based on 3D models of the patient’s own lung anatomy, the Monarch™ Platform provides physicians with improved reach, vision and control.
Dr. Khoudoud practices from Mercy Health – Paducah Pulmonology, 1532 Lone Oak Road, Suite 340, Paducah, Ky. 42003. For more information or to make an appointment, please call 270-415-4150.
Dr. Khoudoud trained on Auris Health’s Monarch™ Platform and he completed Lourdes Hospital’s first two cases with the new technology on May 9, 2022.
The Monarch™ Platform integrates advancements in robotics, software, data science and endoscopy (the use of small cameras and tools to enter the body through its natural openings) to help pulmonologists access smaller nodules. Once there, doctors can take tissue biopsies from peripheral areas of the lung that previous tools were challenged to reach, allowing for earlier and more accurate diagnosis.
“The diagnostic tools we’ve had available cannot go beyond the third or fourth generation of airways. That put smaller, potentially disease-indicating nodules beyond our reach. The robotic bronchoscope goes where other scopes cannot, which allows me to reach up to the seventh generation of an airway and take a tissue sample for biopsy," Dr. Khoudoud said.
In its early stages, lung cancer is symptom-free. Doctors typically find it at an advanced stage, resulting in lung cancer survival rates of less than 10 percent. While diagnostic options for lung cancer are available currently, they have limitations in accuracy, safety or invasiveness.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cleared the Monarch™ Platform for use recently. It utilizes a familiar controller-like interface that doctors use to navigate the flexible robotic endoscope to the periphery of the lung. Combining traditional endoscopic views into the lung with computer-assisted navigation based on 3D models of the patient’s own lung anatomy, the Monarch™ Platform provides physicians with improved reach, vision and control.
Dr. Khoudoud practices from Mercy Health – Paducah Pulmonology, 1532 Lone Oak Road, Suite 340, Paducah, Ky. 42003. For more information or to make an appointment, please call 270-415-4150.