Doctors at Mercy Hospital Northwest Arkansas in Rogers accomplished an innovative achievement in thoracic oncology — a first in Arkansas and across Mercy — by detecting and removing a cancerous lung nodule in a single procedure.
Patients typically must wait four weeks between detection and treatment, adding undue stress and the potential for a dangerous cancer to spread in the interim between the procedures. Last month, the Mercy Northwest Arkansas team successfully performed the procedure as a single anesthetic event.
Mercy pulmonologist Dr. Penchala Mittadodla, assisted by pathologist Dr. Greg McKenzie, performed a minimally invasive, Ion robotic bronchoscopy-guided biopsy to diagnose the non-small cell lung cancer. They dye-marked the lesion, enabling Mercy cardiothoracic surgeon Dr. Trung Ly Tran to remove the lung lobe. This early-stage diagnosis and treatment in one procedure, done at only a few larger medical centers nationally, is quickly becoming the gold standard.
