J&J’s Monarch Quest Bronchoscopy Navigation Cleared

FDA has cleared a Johnson & Johnson MedTech 510(k) for its Monarch Quest, which the company describes as its latest advancement in navigation technology for robotically assisted bronchoscopy. The company notes that almost half of early-stage cancer lesions are located in the periphery of the lung, which it says are difficult to reach with traditional bronchoscopy procedures. The Monarch Platform is designed to aid clinicians in getting to an early, definitive diagnosis in lung cancer cases, it says.

 The artificial intelligence-leveraged platform offers intraprocedural 3D imaging data with the “potential to improve accuracy in targeting lung nodules,” J&J says. It uses a full-stack NVIDIA accelerated computing system to increase the device’s real-time computational power, allowing the system to run complex algorithms to help improve accuracy when navigating the lung, it adds.