The Langhorne-based hospital now offers blue light cystoscopy with Cysview, a newer technology
The Times
St. Mary Medical Center now offers the Bucks County community access to blue light cystoscopy with Cysview, a newer technology to aid in earlier and more accurate detection, surveillance and treatment of bladder cancer.
According to the American Cancer Institute, bladder cancer is the fourth most common cancer in men, and is less common in women, with the average age of 73 for a bladder cancer diagnosis. More than 80,000 patients in the U.S. are diagnosed each year. Importantly, bladder cancer has one of the highest rates of recurrence among all cancers, requiring lifelong surveillance.
The most common method to detect bladder cancer is through a cystoscopy, a minor procedure that allows a physician to use a very small cystoscope to view the bladder lining directly. A cystoscope is a thin tube with a camera and light on the end that is inserted through the urethra and into the bladder, allowing doctors to see the bladder’s interior.
Under the normal white light in a traditional cystoscopy, doctors spot cancerous bladder cells. However, using blue light cystoscopy significantly increases the detection of cancerous bladder cells compared to white light. With blue light cystoscopy, a contrast solution is used to make it easier for urologic specialists to accurately identify cancerous bladder cells. Cancerous cells glow bright pink under blue light, but are nearly invisible under normal, white light. Because the blue light highlights cancerous cells, the doctor can more easily identify and remove them.
“Using this blue light technology makes detecting cancerous bladder cells and tumors much easier, which helps us find and treat bladder cancer earlier before it becomes a major problem for our patients,” said St. Mary’s chief of urology Jamison Jaffe, DO, FACOS, St. Mary Comprehensive Urologic Specialists.
Jaffe added that though the median survival rate for bladder cancer after five years is already high, the use of this technology can make that percentage even higher.
“There is a high recurrence rate of bladder cancer, in part because bladder cancer cells are not easily spotted. So, when we can introduce a new technology or treatment that could significantly increase the diagnostic accuracy and survivability of the disease, that’s great news for our community,” Jaffe said.
St. Mary is currently one of the only hospitals in the Philadelphia region to use this new technology in the operating room and the only urology office in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York to offer blue light detection for bladder cancer with the newly-approved flexible cystoscope.
The flexible scope allows for urologic specialists to perform the procedure right in the physician’s office. Due to the high recurrence of bladder cancer, patients require a cystoscopy every three to six months. Having access to this technology in the operating room and in the urology office can potentially change the lives of St. Mary’s bladder cancer patients, as continued care can be regularly and conveniently addressed in a physician’s office.
For more information or to make an appointment with St. Mary Comprehensive Urologic Specialists at St. Mary Medical Center, 1201 Langhorne-Newtown Road, Langhorne, call 215–710–4490.
