More than 213,000 new cases of lung cancer will be diagnosed in the US this year alone. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more people die from lung cancer than any other type. That's true for both men and women.
In 2004, lung cancer accounted for more deaths than breast, prostate and colon cancer combined. Doctors at St. Joseph's/Candler tell us the procedure to discover whether you have the disease can be painful, but a new technique is changing that.
Claxton neighbor Marie Byrd tells NEWS 3, "They took x-rays, pictures of me and it ended up that they found a scar on my lung." A scar, a spot, something that's not supposed to be on her left lung. That's why Marie's at Candler Hospital.
"I hope they tell me I got an infection and not cancer," says Marie. To diagnose Marie's condition, doctors want to spare her any unnecessary or painful surgeries. They say the way to do that is through a safer, more accurate procedure.
"Endobronchial ultrasound is relatively new. It's been around for years, but it's been refined over the years," says Dr. Douglas Mullins.
Doctors use a bronchoscope with a mini ultrasound probe at the end of it to go through the patient's nose or mouth, looking down into the patient's lung. "The ultrasound view allows us to look through the bronchial wall which we never could do before," says Dr. Mullins.
He describes it as if you were in a tunnel and with the ultrasound view you can see through the tunnel's walls. The less invasive procedure sends patients like Marie home a lot faster without a long recovery.
"Our commitment is to continue to develop and bring technologies into our cancer center to make it easier for patients, not harder. Cancer's hard enough as it is," says Dr. Mullins. It's also a diagnosis Marie hopes she won't get.
Doctors are waiting for more results before they can diagnose Marie. That won't happen until next week.
Candler is the only hospital in our area with the technology used on Marie. Outside of the Coastal Empire, Emory in Atlanta and MUSC in Charleston are the closest.
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement