Alexandra Zamora was lifting weights when she first noticed pain in her back. Turns out, she had a cancerous nodule on her lung.
“I was kind of scared,” Zamora remembered. "It was a weird feeling.”
At HCA Florida Kendall Hospital, her team of doctors turned to a new tool: a robotic endoluminal system.
“We’re able to biopsy lesions that are 4 mm, which is very, very small,” cardiothoracic surgeon Dr. Michael Sasevich explained.
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Without the new technology, surgeons might wait until a lesion reached at least one centimeter. Now, Dr. Sasevich can biopsy much smaller lesions.
“If we do that, that’s a better chance of recovery,” he added.
On July 19th, Dr. Sasevich and his team performed a biopsy and partial lung removal for Zamora. Usually, that’s a process that requires multiple appointments, and can take up to six months.
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“We do it all in one day,” he said.
And that’s where Dr. Sasevich said saving time means saving lives.
“It’s really weeks that makes a huge difference for the patient, particularly when it comes to lung cancer,” he said.
