Monarch Platform's First In-Human Use in US Performed

The Taft Center for Clinical Research at El Camino Hospital, located in Mountain View, California, reported that its interventional pulmonology team successfully used the Auris Monarch Platform as part of a clinical trial. Using Auris’s innovative robotic bronchoscopy technology, the team was able to view the inside of the patient’s lungs and obtain a tissue sample. This marks the first procedure of its kind in the United States.

El Camino Hospital, an acute-care, nonprofit, and locally governed organization, has campuses in Mountain View and Los Gatos, Ca, both of which are in close proximity to Auris’s Redwood, CA headquarters. The hospital has 443 beds, and their Interventional Pulmonary Program is known as a leader in advanced diagnostics and treatments. The hospital’s Interventional Pulmonology Program works alongside the El Camino Hospital Cancer Center to combine the expertise of pulmonologists, surgeons, radiation oncologists, and medical oncologists to aggressively treat cancerous lung nodules.

Dr. Ganesh Krishna, medical director of the Interventional Pulmonology Program at El Camino Hospital, explains his use and belief in Auris’s technology, saying in part, “With the use of the Monarch Platform, we are embarking on a paradigm shift in how we diagnose suspicious nodules in the lung. Since the robotic bronchoscope has the ability to travel deeper into the lung and precisely guide a biopsy instrument to even the most difficult nodules, the technology offers the potential to diagnose lung cancer at an earlier stage.”

Lung cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer deaths in the United States. Over 155,000 people in the United States die from this disease each year. Early and accurate diagnosis can help to reduce lung cancer deaths. Auris aims to enable earlier and more accurate diagnosis and treatment of small and hard to reach nodules with the Monarch Platform, by combining advancements in robotics, software, data science, and endoscope innovation.