Outcome of Bronchoscopic Robot Sampling (ION) of lung nodules

This study aims to compare the use of a robotic-assisted system and the current standard of care ultrasound-guided method for taking lung biopsy samples.

Who is it for?
You may be eligible for this study if you are aged 18 years or older and you are eligible to undergo an elective lung nodule biopsy at the Royal Brisbane & Womens Hospital.

Study details
All participants who choose to enrol in this study will have had a lung/chest CT scan taken prior to their enrolment. This scan will be used to plan how best the lung catheter and camera (bronchoscope) can be directed to collect samples of their lung tissue using the robotic-assisted bronchoscope (ION) System. Participants will be admitted as day patients at the Royal Brisbane & Womens Hospital and will undergo general anaesthesia in order to have the biopsy samples taken. It is anticipated that the procedure will take up to 45 minutes to complete. Once participants have recovered from the anaesthesia they will be able to go home. The samples taken by the robotic-assisted system will be processed to determine the likelihood that the tissue contains cancer cells. The results from an historical group of patients who had lung biopsies taken using the standard of care ultrasound-guided method will be used as a comparator to determine the safety and efficacy of the robotic-assisted method.

It is hoped this research will determine whether use of the robotic-assisted system is able to provide more accurate tissue samples for assessment compared to the ultrasound-guided system. If the robotic-assisted system is found to be more effective and just as safe, if not safer, than the current standard of care method, use of the robotic-assisted system may be tested in a larger number of patients.