inReach™ ELECTROMAGNETIC NAVIGATION BRONCHOSCOPY
What Is A Bronchoscopy?
Bronchoscopy is a procedure that enables your doctor to examine the major air passages of your lungs. This allows your doctor to evaluate your lungs and collect small tissue samples to diagnose lung disease and lung cancer. Usually during this procedure you are mildly sedated. Your doctor will insert a bronchoscope, which is a flexible lighted tube about the width of a pencil, through your nose or mouth, into your windpipe and finally into your lungs. This lighted tube allows for small instruments to be inserted to collect tissue (biopsy).
The Challenge of Traditional Bronchoscopy
Today, there are more than 500,000 bronchoscopies are performed annually in the United States and approximately two-thirds of them cannot reach lesions in the distant regions of the lungs.3,4 For these types of lesions, more invasive surgical procedures are needed to make a diagnosis. These invasive methods may increase the chance of complications such as pneumothorax (collapsed lung), which can lead to hospitalization and other complications. In addition, many patients who suffer from poor lung function cannot tolerate these types of invasive procedures. Watchful waiting or “wait and see” is often the only solution, frequently giving the patient anxiety and the opportunity for the disease to progress.
inReach™ Electromagnetic Navigation Bronchoscopy
An abnormal finding or lesion in the distant part of your lung has been found on an X-ray, CT-Scan or PET-CT Scan that may be caused by infection, inflammation or cancer. inReach Electromagnetic Navigation Bronchoscopy offers a minimally invasive technology that allows your doctor to take tissue samples from the lung earlier and potentially more safely than traditional bronchoscopy. It is also an option for patients who suffer from poor lung function and are not candidates for other more invasive surgical diagnostic procedures.
What Are The Benefits of Electromagnetic Navigation Bronchoscopy?
Your lungs are made up of complex set of airways that divide from one major airway into approximately 256,000 different airways. Therefore, airways in the distant regions of the lung are very small and difficult to access.
Electromagnetic navigation bronchoscopy enables your doctor to locate, test and plan treatment for lung lesions and lymph nodes difficult to access with traditional bronchoscopy, potentially enhancing treatment options for patients.
Similar to GPS (Global Positioning System) technology, the inReach Electromagnetic Navigation System creates a three-dimensional virtual “roadmap” of your lungs from your CT-Scan that enables your doctor to steer a unique set of inReach catheters through the lungs to reach the targeted lesion(s) in a minimally invasive manner.
Electromagnetic navigation bronchoscopy can be used with broad groups of patients, even those who are often not surgical candidates for more invasive surgical procedures. This may include patients who have COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) or have gone through cancer surgery, chemotherapy or radiation therapy.
What Happens During Electromagnetic Navigation Bronchoscopy?
| Your physician locates the lesion that is found deep in your lung on an X-ray, CT-Scan or PET-CT. |  |
| Traditional bronchoscopy fails to reach lesions in the outer regions of the lungs. inReach Electromagnetic Navigation Bronchoscopy provides a minimally invasive approach to reaching the lesion(s). |  |
| The CT-Scan of your lungs is loaded onto a computer and a virtual three-dimensional “roadmap” of your lungs is generated.
Your doctor will mark anatomy points of the lungs and the target lesion(s) on the three-dimensional image to map the route for the navigation and steerable catheters to travel through the lungs. |
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| The unique set of catheters are then loaded into the bronchoscope before the procedure begins. These catheters have 360-degree steering capabilities to reach the lesion as well as an electromagnetic sensor that will allow your doctor to track the exact location of the catheters in your lungs. |  |
During this outpatient procedure, you will lie on a low-frequency electromagnetic bed. Your doctor will pass the bronchoscope containing the unique catheters through your mouth and throat, through your windpipe, and into your lungs. This allows the electromagnetic sensor to be viewed in real-time on the virtual three-dimensional “roadmap” of your lungs to assist your doctor in reaching the target lesion(s). |
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| Once the target lesion(s) is reached, the steering catheter is removed and tiny surgical instruments (biopsy tools) are passed through the bronchoscope to collect a tissue sample (biopsy) from the lesion for testing and diagnosis. |  |
What Happens After Electromagnetic Navigation Bronchoscopy?
During recovery after an electromagnetic navigation bronchoscopy, you will be observed until you are awake enough to return home. You may experience a mild sore throat, hoarseness or cough. If you feel chest pain or increased shortness of breath, contact your doctor immediately.
The most common risk of electromagnetic navigation bronchoscopy is pneumothorax (collapsed lung), which occurs in 2-3% of patients. This is comparable to a traditional bronchoscopy.14