Advanced 3D Imaging Platform Accelerates Lung Cancer Treatment

An advanced 3D imaging and navigation platform supports high precision diagnosis and minimally invasive treatment of lung cancer in one room.

The Royal Philips (Philips; Amsterdam, The Netherlands) Azurion Lung Edition suite combines cone beam computerized tomography (CBCT) 3D images acquired at the tableside with live X-ray guidance and advanced tools to support image-guided lung procedures. The CBCT is used to confirm placement of the biopsy needle during minimally invasive endobronchial biopsies, allowing surgeons to perform lesion ablations during the same procedure.


The Azurion image guided therapy (IGT) system integrates control of imaging, physiology, hemodynamic, and informatics applications, as well as fully automatic, intuitive, position control of the gantry and table, including a wide range of stored parameters. This allows control of all compatible applications from a single touch screen interface, eliminating the need for clinicians to leave the sterile field and step into an adjacent control room, as well as supporting faster and better informed decision making.

“This is a very exciting time in the world of interventional pulmonology and advanced bronchoscopy. One of the things that we’re particularly excited about is being able to diagnose patients, stage their cancer and treat them, all in a single procedure,” said Michael Pritchett, MD, director of the chest center at FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital (Pinehurst, NC, USA). “As a diagnostic bronchoscopist it’s exciting and rewarding to be able not only to diagnose patients, but to go on to treat them as well.”

“Image-guided minimally invasive procedures continue to expand into new treatment areas, enabled by sophisticated, procedure-oriented solutions like Azurion Lung Edition,” said interventional radiologist Atul Gupta, MD, chief medical officer of Philips IGT. “With lung cancer increasingly being detected at an earlier stage, new minimally invasive treatment strategies like ablation have the potential to significantly improve outcomes for patients.”

During CBCT, the region of interest is centered in the field of view. A single 200 degree rotation acquires a volumetric data set which is used to produce a digital volume composed of 3D voxels of anatomical data that can then be manipulated and visualized. CBCT has only recently become practical with the introduction of large-area high-speed digital X-ray imagers, such as hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) based flat-panel detectors.