DAYTON – Robotic bronchoscopy, an innovation that holds promise to fight lung cancer, is now in use at Premier Health’s Miami Valley Hospital.

The Monarch Platform enables pulmonary specialists to navigate and search the delicate, distant branches of the lung and obtain tissue samples from hard-to-reach nodules for biopsy. The goal is earlier diagnosis and treatment for lung cancer.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide, in part because it has no symptoms in its early stages. As lung cancer screening increases, the nodules found tend to be smaller and harder to reach, making early-stage diagnosis – and therefore treatment – difficult.

“Because the Monarch Platform provides improved reach, vision and control for viewing the inside of the airways, it holds potential to help us make a diagnosis earlier,” said Dr. Soumitra Sen, critical care and pulmonary disease specialist at Pulmonary & Critical Care Consultants, Inc. “We’re excited about this technology’s promise to offer a more hopeful future for our patients with lung cancer.”

Miami Valley Hospital is the first in Ohio to use the Monarch Platform, which 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). Funds for its purchase were raised by the Miami Valley Hospital Foundation.

“Miami Valley Hospital is proud to make this new diagnostic option available to our patients,” said Michael Uhl, president of Miami Valley Hospital. “It’s another example of our commitment to bring advanced technology – along with compassionate care – to the ongoing battle against cancer. We extend a very special thanks to our dedicated donors for their continuing support of important initiatives that benefit our patients and community.”

The Monarch Platform utilizes a familiar controller-like interface that physicians 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 3-D models of the patient’s own lung anatomy, the Monarch Platform provides physicians with continuous bronchoscope vision throughout the entire procedure.

Premier Health is a certified member of MD Anderson Cancer Network, a program of MD Anderson Cancer Center.

The Monarch Platform utilizes a familiar controller-like interface that physicians use to navigate the flexible robotic endoscope to the periphery of the lung.