Dr. Stephen Kovacs discusses how how he uses CellTivity at UPMC Hamot

A microscopic system to detect lung cancer called CellTivity is being pioneered at a few hospitals across the nation, and one of them is UPMC Hamot.

The Boston based company reached out to UPMC Hamot to evaluate the technology, because of the pioneering work Stephen Kovacs, D.O. Co-Director of the UPMC Hamot Comprehensive Lung Center is already doing.

In 2018, UPMC Hamot and Dr. Kovacs were first in the country to use robotic bronchoscopy to see inside the lungs to extract hard to reach tissue samples for biopsy.  

Adding CellTivity technology is improving cancer detection at UPMC Hamot even more. "When we blow that up and look at that in a microscopic level, I can see what those cells are doing and I can use that information to ensure that where we are biopsying is getting us the most information that's going to provide a diagnosis as quick and as efficient as we can for patients."

UPMC Hamot physicians showed Erie News Now images of a needle biopsy lung droplet and a bit of tissue examined and illuminated by the CellTivity microscopic system.