Advanced care for lung cancer patients in Lee County

The outlook for lung cancer is typically not good, mostly because it’s often picked up in late stages. However, Lee Health hopes to change that trajectory by launching a new advanced care center focusing on lung disease.

This is a big deal in Lee County. Lung cancer is the top cancer killer, taking more lives than colorectal and breast cancer combined.

Lee Health believes that by offering more screening and streamlining care, the Advanced Lung Care Center can save lives.

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Treating critical care lung cases is Dr. Shyam Kapadia’s specialty. His workload is fueled, in large part, by lung cancer.

“Every day, two people are diagnosed with lung cancer in Lee County,” Kapadia said.

That adds up to a lot of new cases, which is not surprising given our large number of retirees.

Smoking-related lung cancers frequently show up with age after years of smoking. If it’s not caught early, the impact can be devastating.

“If a patient comes in with stage four lung cancer, they have a 2% survival rate at five years, but if you had come in earlier and got screened and got your testing done, you can survive that five years, and you can be having a full life ahead of you,” Kapadia said.

What Lee Health offers may change the course of the disease.

“We put together this advanced lung care center to make it so that the patient has a place to go,” Kapadia said.

Under one roof, it’s a place to get screening and coordinate a patient’s treatment. That job falls to nurse practitioners like Krista Marzano.

“With early detection, time is of the essence, and we need to move things quickly, so our clinic makes a point to ensure that we’re their concierge,” Marzano said.

Navigating cancer can be a full-time job.

“We’re reaching out to the pulmonologist for biopsies. We’re reaching out to cardiothoracic surgery if that’s an option, radiation oncology, oncology, so we make sure everybody’s involved in the treatment plan before the patient even walks in their door,” Marzano said.

Putting resources toward a growing need, the Advanced Care Lung Center is one solution to saving lives.