Navigation Platform Advances Cancer Diagnostic Procedures

A novel intra-operative imaging system enables accurate real-time navigation and lesion localization during bronchoscopic procedures.

The Body Vision Medical LungVision Navigation platform is designed to provide accurate, real-time navigation in diagnostic and treatment procedures of radiolucent soft tissue lesions. Using a sophisticated augmented reality (AR) approach, the synergistic imaging platform merges intraoperative two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) fluoroscopy with pre-operative high resolution imaging, such as computed tomography (CT).

The LungVision Navigation platform thus provides an affordable and effective real-time solution for early-stage lung cancer diagnostic procedures. The system is comprised of the LungVision suite intra-body navigation system software, the system hardware, and a disposable, sensor-free navigation catheter that is used to help surgeons plan, visualize, and track their instrumentation during these procedures.

“We create synergy between the real-time two-dimensional X-ray image and the three-dimensional CT image that also contains the location of the tumor we want to reach, and the planning of the route by the doctor in advance in order to project the small changes that take place in the body in real time, as captured by the X-ray, on the CT image,” said Dorian Averbuch, CEO of Body Vision Medical. “We envision that in the near future, the LungVision system will revolutionize the way physicians diagnose and treat peripheral lung lesions.”

“Body Vision developed unique technology that combines the intelligence of navigation with the simplicity of fluoroscopy,” said D. Kyle Hogarth, MD, director of bronchoscopy at the University of Chicago (IL, USA). “It enables effective localization and enhanced biopsy of lung lesions, upgrading the standard methods used in our daily practice.”

AR is defined as a live direct or indirect view of a physical, real-world environment whose elements are augmented by computer-generated sensory input such as sound, video, graphics or GPS data. It is related to a general concept called mediated reality, in which a view of reality is modified--possibly even diminished rather than augmented--by a computer. As a result, the technology functions by enhancing one’s current perception of reality. By contrast, virtual reality replaces the real world with a simulated one.