Medtronic Announces Positive Results from the Largest ENB Study to Aid in Lung Cancer Diagnosis

Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) today announced that the Journal of Thoracic Oncology has published 12-month results of the NAVIGATE study, the largest, prospective, multicenter trial evaluating electromagnetic navigation bronchoscopy (ENB) procedures using the superDimension navigation system to aid in lung cancer diagnosis, staging and treatment.

As quoted in the press release:

According to the American Cancer Society, lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States.¹ Today, the majority of lung cancer patients are diagnosed in the late stages (Stage III or IV), during which long-term survival rates drastically decline.¹ When diagnosed at Stage I, the estimated 10-year survival rate climbs to 88 percent.² Early detection and immediate treatment dramatically increases the typical long-term survival rate.¹

“These data demonstrate that, for the first time, both academic and community-based care clinicians can safely obtain a diagnosis in small, peripheral lung lesions, and then stage and prepare for future treatment in a single minimally invasive procedure,” said Erik Folch, M.D., M.Sc., chief of the Complex Chest Disease Center and co-director of Interventional Pulmonology at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, and co-lead investigator of the NAVIGATE study. “NAVIGATE is the first large, multicenter study to evaluate ENB diagnostic yield and complication rates with prospective, long-term follow up of negative cases. Because we looked at all cases-not just those with easily accessible lesions-NAVIGATE replicates real-world conditions and demonstrates that ENB has the potential to significantly accelerate lung cancer detection, and consequently improve the likelihood of a successful intervention.”

Click here to read the full press release.