Lung cancer | New treatment option provides hope to patients [Video]

DURHAM, N.C. (WTVD) — Sitting at a table inside her Durham home, Charlotte Johnson pulls up an iPad with a series of pictures from her previous battles with cancer.

“This is the one that most terrified me,” said Johnson, as she shared her initial reaction when her medical team presented a new treatment option.

After previously being treated with chemotherapy, radiation, and immunotherapy, doctors at Duke explained those would not work as she faced lung cancer again.

“While I got my boxing gloves on, let me be one of the first (ones to do it). I said I really don’t have anything to lose at this point,” said Johnson.

Johnson is referring to pulsed electric field ablation.

“We use a robotic bronchoscope to get to the tumor. Then we introduce this catheter into the tumor and blast some high-frequency, high-voltage electric current through the tumor. This not only ablates the tumor but also makes the tumor more immunogenic,” said Dr. Kamran Mahmood, …