Medtronic lung cancer study to include its first European patients

Medtronic is beginning a study to assess the impact of minimally invasive technology that will aid in early diagnosis and treatment of lung cancer in its first set of European patients

As a medical company, Medtronic is committed to technologies that assist in the goal of reducing lung cancer morbidity worldwide and has announced European enrolment in the NAVIGATE clinical trial.

This study will be looking at 2,500 international patients and will investigate the long-term impact of its superDimension(TM) navigation system as a way to help detect the early development of lung cancer and its subsequent treatment.

The superDimension system uses LungGPS(TM) technology, which is the first of its kind to enable Electromagnetic Navigation Bronchoscopy (ENB) procedures.

ENB procedures allow for minimally invasive approaches to access hard-to-reach areas of the lung. By doing this, doctors have a better opportunity to diagnose lung disease in its early stages and it can help patients avoid surgery.

Mag Petra Lichtenberger, assistant to Prof Dr Lamprecht at the Department of Pulmonology of Kepler University Clinic Linz in Austria, commented: "Technology that allows medical professionals to view areas of the lung that could not be accessed before is a major advance that is changing the landscape of lung cancer diagnosis and helping save patient lives."