Health U: ION technology being used to detect and treat lung cancer earlier

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WIS) - Getting a cancer diagnosis is devastating, and the anxiety about treatments and procedures can be overwhelming.

However, thanks to a new procedural technology being used for biopsies at Lexington Medical Center, the disease is being detected and treated earlier.

Steve and Mamie Turner of Blythewood have been married for 46 years. Now retired, Steve served for 32 years with the Columbia Fire Department.

“The comradery at the fire department was just a brotherhood. I’ve got friends that are lifelong friends,” said Turner.

But Steve’s start to a new chapter in life took a turn after a doctor’s visit for what he thought was a common cold.

“The doctor said, ‘Steve, you have pneumonia, but we see a little shadow area in your right lung. We’re just going to keep an eye on it for a while.’”

For almost two years, Steve went back for biannual CT scans while doctors monitored his lung. But during the fourth scan—doctors became concerned.

“He said, ‘Looks like that shadow area’s got a little density to it. And, I think we need to look at it further.’”

The Turners wanted to get another opinion. That’s when they met Dr. Heather Currier, Chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery.

Mamie said she remembers getting the bad news.

“I can still remember her, she called me into the waiting room,” Mamie Turner said. “And when she reached back and closed the door, she never looked back at the door she just made eye contact with me, and I just knew that the result was not good, not what I wanted to hear.”

The suspicious cells found on Steve’s lung were cancerous.

“I had been worried. I lost both my parents to cancer,” said Turner.

But Dr. Currier had a plan involving to a new kind of robotic technology called ION.

Steve would be the first at the hospital to possibly undergo the procedure.

Dr. Currier explained the technology involves a robot that builds 3D airways using CT scans to be able to biopsy lung nodules from the inside out at a much smaller size.

“Typically, lung cancer nodules have been biopsied from the outside in and it’s very hard to hit a small moving target,” said Currier. “So by us transitioning using ION doing the biopsies internally, then that allows us to be moving with the patient when they’re breathing so it takes the motion artifact away.”

The procedure is also quicker and less invasive.

“It uses the CT scan material to build directions,” Currier continued. “So just like if we were driving to the store---it says ‘where do you want to go today’ and I want to go to this nodule. The computer then builds me directions so that I can navigate through the patients airways directly to where the nodule is—and then holds me there so I can do the biopsies.”

The Turners felt they could trust Dr. Currier’s suggestion.

“We just felt a positive energy. We had a good feeling. You know when you meet people and you just get a good feeling about them? And, I said ‘let’s roll with this,’” said Steve.

That same week, he was admitted and taken to the operating room.

After a few hours, the biopsy was successful and his charts came back clear.

“We didn’t have to do radiation, we didn’t have to do chemo. It was a great, great, thing,” Steve said.

Within weeks, Steve was back to his day-to-day life- enjoying the outdoors, even going on vacation with family.

Dr. Currier said timing is everything, and this new technology is helping save lives.

Her team has now performed over 80 biopsies using ION, and she said it’s allowed doctors to make lung cancer diagnoses earlier.

“That’s what we want and vision lung cancer treatment being like,” said Currier.

Mamie says they’re glad they trusted the technology.

“I just felt comfortable with our choice,” she said. “And the robotic surgery was a life-changer for us. We’re just blessed that we had people looking out for us and helping us along the way.”

For more information on ION or other cancer treatment options at Lexington Medical Center visit lexmed.com or call (803) 794-7511.

Feel more informed, prepared, and connected with WIS. For more free content like this, subscribe to our email newsletter, and download our apps. Have feedback that can help us improve? Click here.

Copyright 2024 WIS. All rights reserved.