Forrest General Hospital Introduces New Monarch Robot to Diagnose Lung Cancer Patients at Earlier Stage

HATTIESBURG, Miss. – (January 11, 2023) Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide, partly because potentially malignant nodules can be difficult and dangerous to detect and diagnose in the farthest reaches of the lungs.

A new robot that arrived at Forrest General Hospital in early December aims to change that. The robot is part of Auris Health’s Monarch™ Platform – recently cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The system includes a flexible robotic endoscope that doctors use to navigate and search the delicate, distant branches of the lungs and obtain tissue samples from hard-to-reach nodules for biopsy.

“One of the big problems in the treatment of lung cancer is that the disease is diagnosed too late,” said pulmonologist, Wes Aldred, MD, who is a part of Forrest General and Hattiesburg Clinic’s lung cancer team and plans to begin using the new system on select patients. “However, this technology provides improved reach, vision, and control for bronchoscopic procedures. Being able to diagnose smaller, more peripheral nodules with greater accuracy will lead to earlier treatment for our patients which will hopefully improve their outcomes.”

Currently, patients experiencing symptoms of lung disease or those who have suspected lesions can be examined and treated with standard bronchoscopes, needle aspiration, or surgery. However, all of these traditional methods have limitations in accuracy, safety, or invasiveness. Earlier diagnosis with the Monarch platform’s least invasive approach promises to increase chances of survival and reduce unnecessary invasive diagnostic procedures. According to Auris, clinic studies found that the Monarch Platform was able to help physicians obtain peripheral biopsy samples from 14 out of 15 patients (93%) under direct vision, with no serious adverse events.

The Monarch Platform integrates the latest advances in flexible robotics, software, data science, and endoscopy (the use of scopes equipped with small cameras and tools that enter the body through its natural openings). 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.

For more information on the Monarch robot, visit forrestgeneral.org/surgery.