Interventional pulmonology is a specialty within pulmonary medicine. Interventional pulmonologists can diagnose, stage and treat conditions and cancer of the lungs. Staging is an important part of cancer diagnosis because it is a common language that all healthcare providers understand and is used to assess the extent of the disease.
For lung cancer care, the interventional pulmonologist is part of the comprehensive lung cancer program at Stony Brook Cancer Center. The interventional pulmonologist performs minimally invasive procedures to view the lungs. An endoscope, which is a device that consists of a small tube and an optical system, is inserted through the mouth, into the airway and lungs. Various types of tools can be inserted through the endoscope for different procedures.
Advanced Diagnostic Techniques
• Flexible Bronchoscopy. An endoscope is threaded into the major air passages of the lungs to obtain tissue samples for a biopsy of a tumor or a lymph node. This can also help with staging.
• Electromagnetic navigation bronchoscopy (ENB). This minimally invasive procedure is used for getting biopsy samples from hard to reach lung cancer lesions that helps doctors diagnose and plan treatments. ENB combines GPS-like technology with a catheter-based system to access lesions deep in the lung. Without ENB, patients often had to have major surgery to reach a suspicious spot on the lung. The less-invasive ENB option means fewer complications, a quicker recovery, better-quality tissue samples for more accurate diagnosis and more highly targeted treatment.
• Endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA). This is another sophisticated technique that is used to diagnose and stage lung cancer, taking a biopsy from the walls of air spaces in the lungs. It’s guided by ultrasound for accuracy and safety.
Advanced Therapeutic Interventional Procedures
• Airway stenting (metallic stents and silastic stents)
• Tumor debulking
• Brachytherapy
• Rigid bronchoscopy
• Balloon dilation
• Electrocautery
• Laser therapy
• Foreign body removal
• Microdebridement
• Pleuroscopy
• PleurX® catheter placement and management
To learn more:
• Ask the Expert with Interventional Pulmonologist Stephen J. Kuperberg, MD
• Lung Cancer Management Team
• Diagnostic Tests for Lung Cancer
• Biopsy Techniques for Lung Cancer