A pioneering method in the diagnosis of lung cancer is proving successful at Erasme Hospital in Brussels



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In the past, screening was often limited to a CT scan followed by invasive diagnostic procedures. Today, a new method is now proven.

Since this summer, two people have benefited from this practice. Gudrun is one of them. A few months ago, a scanner unveiled shadows in the right lung of this 75 year old smoker. She was then subjected to this new diagnostic technique, immediately followed by an operation. "Of course, it takes time for the lung to reform to breathe normally.I still have some difficulties to breathe but it is really a miracle of surgery"says Gudrun.

No heavy intervention

It was necessary to check the cancerous aspect of the nodule present in Gudrun's lung. Usually, a surgeon could have removed the suspicious part of the lung for badysis. But today, the technique of endoscopy takes a facelift. A camera equipped with mini instruments is now able to move more deeply than ever in the bronchi, where nodules usually hide. And this technique does not cause lesions.

"The patient is offered a surgical approach – and therefore removal of a fairly large part of the lung – only in cases where it will be really necessary, but in cases where it will not be, there will be no resection wide of the lung, " explains Dimitri Leduc, head of the department of pneumology at Erasme hospital. "And that seems to be an interesting and important element."

This is a real breakthrough but, we are confirmed, will cost more than a conventional diagnosis.

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