Early lung cancer detection

According to a critical care pulmonologist with Lee Health, every day, two people in Lee County hear the news that they have lung cancer.

However, many find out too late when it’s harder to treat, but thanks to new screenings and tools, there’s hope for catching it early.

Denise and Steve Simard, who are in their 60s, are an active couple. However, they never imagined the activity they’d faced in the past six months.

“In May, when I went for a screening, they called me the same day, which is never good news, and found out that they had a spot that they wanted to investigate further,” Denise said.

A long-time smoker, Simard kicked the habit 15 years ago; based on her history, she was eligible for annual CT scans to look for lung cancer.

“Meaning you smoke a pack a day for 20 years or more, or they have to have quit within the last 15 years, and they can be qualified to get screened,” said Krista Marzano, a nurse practitioner at Advanced Lung Care Center.

Finding a suspicious spot, Denise had an ion robot biopsy. It’s like a colonoscopy for the lungs, navigating the far reaches of the lungs and taking a sample.

“In the past, we weren’t able to get to some of the lesions that we needed to, and so we’d have to wait for the lesion to get bigger, and once it was bigger, it had already spread to other parts of the body,” said Dr. Shyam Kapadia, critical care pulmonologist at Lee Health.

Through testing, doctors found stage 2 lung cancer.

“I was totally flabbergasted because everybody gets the impression that cancer has symptoms, and it’s true for the advanced stages, but I literally had no symptoms,” Denise said.

Denise had surgery to remove part of her left lung, followed by four rounds of chemo.

Denise said all of this took place in less than a six-month span.

Now, her outlook is good.

“When you find lung cancer early, you really change the trajectory of that patient’s life. People like Denise get to make it to their kids’ first graduation or to their wedding anniversaries or go on a vacation with their spouses,” Kapadia said.

Weeks after treatment, the Simards were off enjoying an adventure cruise.

“I felt good enough to do everything, and that was two and a half weeks after my last chemo treatment,” Denise said.

The sooner the disease is found, the more likely patients can put it behind them.

The difference between life and death, based on the stage at which lung cancer is detected, is immense.

If caught at stage 4, which is common, there is a 2% survival rate at five years, according to the American Cancer Society.