John Fernando remembers feeling like he had simply been hit by a ton of bricks. The army veteran was in a affected person room on the Sacramento VA Medical Heart a number of weeks earlier than Christmas. He had simply been instructed that medical doctors discovered two suspicious nodules on his lung throughout his surveillance appointment.
“I felt overwhelmed,” Fernando remembered. “I knew first-hand how taxing and exhausting the therapy could be. Simply fascinated with the potential for having most cancers once more was nerve-racking.”
4 years earlier, Fernando had undergone therapy for stage three metastatic rectal adenocarcinoma, a kind of colorectal most cancers at Walter Reed Nationwide Army Medical Heart. On the time he was stationed in Maryland, serving as an info know-how specialist for the Military.
In line with the American Most cancers Society, 1% to three% of survivors develop a second most cancers completely different from the one initially handled. Analysis exhibits that most cancers survivors have an elevated likelihood of creating most cancers in comparison with folks of the identical age and gender who haven’t had most cancers.
“My first expertise having most cancers was lengthy and nerve-racking,” Fernando defined. “There was lots of ready for exams and appointments — which was exhausting. Then as soon as I had my process, the restoration course of was very tough.”
Minimally invasive, robotic-assisted know-how
Fernando was referred to UC Davis Well being. His care workforce included Luis Godoy, assistant professor of thoracic surgical procedure, and Chinh Phan, director of the UC Davis Interventional Pulmonology Program.
“John’s suspicious lung nodules have been very small and would have been tough if not not possible to see with the bare eye,” Godoy defined.
Godoy and Phan decided that Fernando was a great candidate for a robotic-assisted bronchoscopy process. It might permit Fernando to be put below anesthesia solely as soon as whereas the nodules have been situated and biopsied — and eliminated if needed.
The Interventional Pulmonology Program and Division of Basic Thoracic Surgical procedure carried out the first single-anesthesia analysis to therapy of lung most cancers utilizing a totally robotic strategy in April 2022.
The process makes use of the Ion Endoluminal Platform by Intuitive. The high-tech system creates a 3D map of the affected person’s lungs utilizing a CT scan. The software program then generates the most secure and most effective route via the lung to the nodule or mass. As soon as the route is decided, an ultrathin and ultra-maneuverable catheter reaches the lung nodule or mass, the place it’s biopsied.
The samples are then evaluated onsite. If the nodule is decided to be an early-stage most cancers, the surgical workforce makes use of the identical navigational path to mark the realm with dye and put together for its removing. Then, the affected person, nonetheless asleep, has a second robotic process to take away the most cancers on the identical day.
“Because of our Ion robotic bronchoscopy platform to position a fiducial coil dyed with indocyanine inexperienced (ICG) to help with intraoperative localization of the suspicious nodules within the periphery of John’s lung,” defined Phan. “This modern method may also help surgeons effectively and precisely localize tough to search out lung nodules for lung-sparing surgical procedure.”
Upon analysis, it was decided that Fernando’s nodules have been malignant and have been instantly eliminated utilizing the da Vinci robotic system through the single anesthetic occasion.
“Due to our Ion and da Vinci minimally invasive robotic platforms, John was capable of be discharged inside 24 hours after his therapy,” Phan mentioned. “It’s actually a miracle that we have been capable of assist this younger affected person who served our nation return dwelling cancer-free simply in time to spend the vacation season together with his household.”
Streamlining affected person care
Simply over a month following his process, Fernando has returned to work and his on a regular basis life.
“After having surgical procedure, you anticipate to be in mattress for weeks recovering,” mentioned Fernando. “However after per week I finished taking my ache remedy and was already beginning to really feel higher. It was a very completely different expertise from the primary time I used to be handled for most cancers.”
Fernando is grateful to everybody at UC Davis Well being – from Godoy, to Phan, to every nurse, technician and workforce member he encountered.
“Everybody I labored with was extremely environment friendly and communicated all the small print for my process,” he recalled. “They actually alleviated lots of stress and trouble for me all through the whole course of.”
