OPMC Opens a Dedicated Bronchoscopy Suite

April 19, 2011

The Million Dollar Suite is the only one of its kind in Northeast Florida

Orange Park, FL – Orange Park Medical Center (OPMC) has opened a $1 million, bronchoscopy suite. Equipped with the latest technology, it is the only dedicated bronchoscopy suite in Northeast Fla. Hospitals typically perform bronchoscopic procedures in rooms designed for other purposes as well.

“The suite was designed for one goal,” says Kelly Lindsay, OPMC Director of Cardiopulmonary Services, “great patient outcomes in the detection and treatment of lung cancer and chronic lung diseases like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and emphysema.”

OPMC’s highly-skilled, multidisciplinary team from pulmonology, pathology, radiology, anesthesiology, respiratory therapy, and nursing has developed expertise in performing diagnostic and therapeutic lung procedures. The new suite provides a single location for the state-of-the-art equipment they use. This equipment includes endobronchial ultrasound (EBUS), the SuperDimension inReach System and a new pleuroscopy scope.

Interventional pulmonologists Stuart Millstone, M.D., and Luis Laos, M.D., were the first to perform procedures in the new suite. These were Endobronchial Ultrasound (EBUS) cases. EBUS is a minimally invasive diagnostic tool that provides a more precise determination of a patient’s lung cancer stage. The procedure is performed by passing a small bronchoscope, with a special ultrasound at its tip, through the patient’s mouth and down into the windpipe. Many patients evaluated with EBUS are able to forego more invasive surgical procedures.

Drs. Millstone and Laos were the first in the area to pioneer the use of the SuperDimension inReach System, which is another minimally invasive technology used to reach far into the lungs to examine and biopsy suspicious spots, or lesions, on the lungs. This technology goes beyond traditional bronchoscopy by allowing pulmonologists to reach deeper into the small airways of the lungs than they could before.

Patients benefit from the procedure because they may avoid having to undergo a surgical biopsy. And since the new bronchoscopy suite contains a fully-equipped pathology station, pathologists can examine tissue samples taken during the procedure and determine if the patient has lung cancer or not before the procedure is completed.

The team can also perform a procedure called a pleuroscopy with a new pleuroscopy scope. This procedure is done to examine the pleural space for infection or tumors. The pleural space is the fluid-filled cavity that surrounds the lungs.

Pulmonologists are able to insert the pleuroscopy scope into the chest through a small incision. “Having the pleuroscopy scope means were able to provide a minimally invasive approach versus having to open the patient’s chest for a surgical biopsy,” Lindsay says. “This is very important because it means a quicker recovery and shorter hospital stay.”

A final unique aspect of the suite is that general anesthesia can be performed right in the spacious room. This means the team can perform multiple procedures on the same patient without ever having to move the patient to another room.