Robotic bronchoscopy: A better way to biopsy (video)

Doreen Rochells has been treated for lung cancer before, so she remembered how difficult the process can be. That includes the biopsy — the process by which a sample is taken to determine if the spot that had been discovered on the lung is cancerous.

Fortunately, new technology has been developed that makes the process much easier. When imaging showed a new spot — referred to by doctors as a nodule — on Doreen’s lung in late 2025, her pulmonologist, Dr. Anuja Vyas, who is with Sharp Rees-Stealy Medical Group and affiliated with Sharp Memorial Hospital, told her they could do the biopsy using robotic bronchoscopy.

“Instead of an invasive procedure to go in through the skin from outside the lung, now we use robotic assistance to send a tube through the mouth and into the lung’s natural pathways,” explains Dr. Vyas.

Thanks to the new technology, Dr. Vyas was able to give Doreen good news. The new nodule was not a recurrence of Doreen’s cancer, but instead a different form of tumor with a much better prognosis.

Watch the above video to learn more about Doreen and the robotic bronchoscopy that changed her life.

Sharp HealthCare is proud to be the Presenting Sponsor of the American Lung Association’s LUNG FORCE Walk, on Saturday, May 31, 8 am, at the Carlsbad Flower Fields. Join a Sharp team or create your own.