Outdoor enthusiast is back on her feet after robotic bronchoscopy

Barbara Marchione's health issues had been extensive, making her feel sick for a long period of time. Despite her love for hiking, swimming and boating, she could not do much at all. Frequent sinus infections, exhaustion and sickness plagued her. Marchione constantly felt drained, a stark contrast to her previously busy life.

“Just walking across the living room wore me out,” she says. “Something just felt off.”

Marchione recently underwent a robotic bronchoscopy procedure that brought significant changes to her health journey. The robotic bronchoscopy procedure allowed her doctors to diagnose a slow-growing bacterial infection called mycobacterium avium complex (MAC). Lesions from the infection were essentially eating away at her lungs, causing air-filled pockets known as cavities. Now, she is on a long-term antibiotic regimen that she will follow for several months.

The procedure itself was relatively simple for Marchione, with minimal side effects. Reflecting on her experience, she expresses her gratitude towards her pulmonologist, Mehboob Kalani, MD.

“I love Dr. Kalani,” she says. “He was precise. He explained everything in detail. He referred me to a good infectious disease doctor. He's an excellent doctor.”

Marchione also appreciates the care she received from the entire medical team.

“It's a great bunch of people,” she says. “They take care of you like you are one of their children. I would recommend them to anyone.”

Before robotic bronchoscopies were available, diagnosing lung issues such as nodules, masses or cavities involved using a needle for biopsies under CT guidance with an interventional radiologist. If the lesion had spread, a bronchoscopy and biopsy of the lymph nodes in the middle of the chest were performed.

“CT-guided biopsy has a similar diagnosis rate as robotic bronchoscopic biopsy, but it carries a higher complication rate,” says Kalani. “Additionally, if the CT-guided biopsy is positive for cancer, then a bronchoscopy is usually needed to determine if the cancer has spread, which commonly occurs seven to 14 days later. However, with robotic navigational biopsy, we can also perform the staging procedure at the same time, decreasing the time to diagnosis and thereby providing treatment earlier.”

In other words, robotic bronchoscopies make finding lung problems faster, easier and earlier.

Why it matters

For Marchione, the older methods would not have been ideal due to the lung damage from her history of smoking and the high risk of lung collapse associated with her lesion. The process could have extended the diagnosis time to weeks if initial tests were inconclusive. Delays in diagnosis could have led to the cavity growing, increasing the chance of permanent lung damage and a persistent cough. In severe cases, untreated cavities could increase the risk of death.

“Catching and treating cavities is extremely important due to the risks, and luckily we were able to do so for Barbara,” says Kalani.

Thanks to robotic bronchoscopy and the dedicated care of her medical team, Marchione is on the path to reclaiming her active lifestyle.