The Detroit Medical Center Sinai-Grace Hospital is the first in Michigan — and one of 15 select medical centers nationwide — to offer a newly approved diagnostic imaging system that improves bladder cancer detection. The hospital will be using the technology for the first time on a patient from Detroit today.
“This technology adds another dimension to our urologic robotic oncology program,” says Dr. Ranko Miocinovic, director of the hospital’s urologic oncology program.
The system is used with Cysview, a special medication that reacts with bladder cancer. Once in the body, potential bladder problems become more visible via a blue light scope used by a doctor.
“With Cysview, identifying bladder cancer means improved visibility of the tumor, resulting in the ability to remove the entire tumor, thus preventing tumor recurrence,” Miocinovic says. “Blue light technology helps turn cancerous cells fluorescent — taking us one step further in the cure.”
In 2013, an estimated 72,570 new cases of bladder cancer will be diagnosed in the United States, and 15,210 deaths will result from the disease, according to the National Cancer Institute.
