CentraState - Healthy Directions

www.centrastate.com Fall 2015 11 Many Success Stories Nedra is one of 10 patients whose lung cancer has been detected through CentraState's screening program, which began in June 2013. Six of those patients, including Nedra, were found to have Stage 1 cancer, which is considered potentially curable with surgery, according to Sharon Lorfing, a nurse practitioner and lung navigator at CentraState. CentraState is committed to responsible screening and has been designated a Screening Center of Excellence by the Lung Cancer Alliance, a nonprofit organization dedicated to saving lives and advancing research by empowering those living with and at risk for lung cancer. "We have a team approach to review the scans. We have a lung conference bimonthly with a team of doctors including our radiologists, thoracic surgeons, pulmonary doctors, pathologist, and our medical and radiation oncologists," Lorfing says. "We view the scans together and make decisions on follow-up based on findings, patient history, and national guidelines for screening. We have a seamless process for screening, follow-up, and treatment, if needed. All of our patients who underwent a video- assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) for their lung nodule were found to have lung cancer." Lorfing adds, "The gold standard of lung cancer treatment is to surgically remove cancer while it is still contained to the lung. More and more research is showing that screening is detecting more cancers at Stage 1." CentraState's free screening program, run in conjunction with Freehold Radiology MR Associates, is open to former or current smokers who are 55 and over and meet certain criteria, including having smoked for 30 pack years or more (1 pack a day for 30 years, 2 packs a day for 15 years, etc.) who are currently still smoking or have quit within the last 15 years, with no symptoms of lung cancer, or known pulmonary nodules. Patients need a prescription from their doctor. "We get a lot of patients through word of mouth," Lorfing says. "People will tell their friends how simple and convenient it is to complete the screening—there really is no wait time. Patients can get scanned the same week they call to be screened. Many physicians are talking to their patients now about lung cancer screenings. I urge at-risk patients to speak with their doctors about getting screened if they haven't done so." The screening is a process, however, not just a one-time CT scan. Patients may need to follow up with another CT scan in three or six months if a nodule is found, to assure stability or look for changes. If there are no nodules suggestive of lung cancer, the patient should return in a year to repeat the scan for as long as they fall into that high-risk category for developing a cancer. AN EXPERIENCED SURGICAL TEAM Nedra underwent a procedure known as video-assisted thoracic surgery, or VATS, with Dr. Bocage and his partner Robert Caccavale, MD, also a board-certified thoracic surgeon on staff at CentraState. Through their practice, the two doctors were the first to perform VATS in New Jersey, and they have completed thousands of VATS procedures together since 1991. VATS is a minimally invasive procedure that uses four tiny incisions to perform complex surgeries inside the chest. In Nedra's case, a section (lobe) of her right lung was removed. In addition, the surgeons removed nearby lymph nodes to stage the disease. "With VATS, we're able to remove the diseased section of lung with minimal impact on the ribs and chest wall muscles," Dr. Bocage says. "This approach greatly reduces post-surgery recovery time, pain, and bleeding compared with traditional types of open-chest surgery." In fact, Nedra was able to leave the hospital the day after surgery. She also received the most positive news since her screening test—her cancer had not spread beyond her lung and was considered Stage 1. "Let's face it, that lung screening scan saved my life," Nedra says. "When you don't have symptoms, you don't go to the doctor. Maybe two years from now, when I did develop symptoms, it would have been too late." A SPEEDY RECOVERY Nedra praised the care she received at CentraState and says she recovered so quickly that she was able to fulfill her promise to take her family on a Christmas vacation to Florida—just a little over a month after her surgery. She has regular follow-up visits with her doctors but has required no additional treatments since her surgery. She's now back to being her active self. A member of a hiking program in Monmouth County, she'll participate in nearly two- hour walks with no breathing problems at all. "I'm doing great, and I'm hopeful that everything is going to be OK," she says. "Without the screening program and the doctors and staff at CentraState, I'm not sure how I'd be doing today. I am very grateful." For more information about CentraState's Comprehensive Lung Care Program, call Sharon Lorfing, RN, APN-C, nurse practitioner and lung cancer navigator at CentraState Medical Center, at 732-637-6365 or visit www.centrastate.com/ lungcancer. HD

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