MICHAEL PRITCHETT, D.O., MPH

PINEHURST – FirstHealth of the Carolinas has made history once again as the “first in the world” Ion Robotic Bronchoscopy mentor site.

Michael Pritchett, D.O., MPH, pulmonary specialist at Pinehurst Medical Clinic and director of the Chest Center of the Carolinas at FirstHealth, will lead the training center.

In April, FirstHealth became the first health care system in the nation to participate in a clinical study with Intuitive Surgical’s Ion Endoluminal System.  Dr. Pritchett performed the procedure with the robotic system as part of a multi-center clinical study. Other sites participating in the trial include Massachusetts General Hospital, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, MD Anderson Cancer Center, the Mayo Clinic and Henry Ford Health System.

Dr. Pritchett will now work with physicians from around the world to train them in using this latest technology.

Intuitive Surgical’s robotic-assisted, catheter-based technology is designed to access hard-to-reach areas of the body through natural openings, like the mouth. When applied in the lungs, its aim is to enable early lung cancer diagnoses by accessing and sampling tissue from small nodules in difficult-to-reach areas. >>read more