Our Approach

The Yale Robotic Bronchoscopy Program takes a multidisciplinary approach to patient care; it is a joint program between Yale Interventional Pulmonology and Yale Thoracic Surgery, part of the Thoracic Oncology Program, which takes care of more than 40% of lung cancer patients in Connecticut while attracting patients from New England and beyond.

The goal of the program is to diagnose potentially cancerous lung nodules in the periphery and hard-to-read parts of the lungs. The robotic bronchoscopy technology will help to biopsy and diagnose those nodules with significantly improved accuracy and safety. Yale New Haven Hospital offers this new technology, which has greater dexterity, reach, vision, and shape-sensing technology that offers greater stability when compared with traditional bronchoscopy.

A regular bronchoscope has a camera on one end. The other end is held by a doctor who manually performs the procedure. With a robotic bronchoscopy, the endoscope is attached to a robotic arm, which the doctor operates from an independent console.

The Yale doctors will be using robotic bronchoscopy concurrently with 3D fluoroscopy for real time imaging to further improve the accuracy of the procedure. Furthermore, doctors will also perform a procedure called EBUS—endobronchial ultrasound, which allows biopsy of the lymph nodes around the lungs and airways. This helps not just with the diagnosis but with the staging of lung cancer. Performing robotic-assisted bronchoscopy and EBUS under single anesthesia will help reduce the unnecessary waiting times and anxiety that patients may traditionally experience.