In the Bluegrass, more than 10,000 people die from cancer each year, with lung cancer as one of the most common cancers in the state. Nationally, Kentucky has the highest rate of new lung cancer diagnoses in the nation with 84.8 people per 100,000 diagnosed each year.
“Kentucky has the highest prevalence of lung cancer in the United States,” said Jennifer Finch, Director of Clinical Integration at Med Center Health. “We want to change that, and our new lung nodule program creates new hope for at-risk patients. We have new technology with Ion Robotic Navigational Bronchoscopy that allows us to biopsy nodules at a much smaller size than what we have historically been able to do. We are now able find much smaller nodules and treat them, hopefully, at a stage one when there is a 90% survivability rate.”
The Lung Nodule Program’s goal is to detect cancerous lung nodules at the earliest stages and then provide treatment quickly before the cancer advances to a higher stage. Identifying cancerous lung nodules in the earliest stages is called “Staging Down,” and this is exactly what the Lung Nodule Program has done for lung cancer treatment at Med Center Health.
Prior to the creation of the Lung Nodule Program at the beginning of 2024, 63% of Med Center Health’s lung cancer diagnoses were found at Stage III or Stage IV, while just 37% were found at Stage I or II. Since the inception of the Lung Nodule Program, nearly 11 months ago, Med Center Health has been able to flip those numbers. Now, just 43% of lung cancer patients are diagnosed at Stage III or IV, while 57% are diagnosed at Stage I or II. The survivability rate when diagnosed at Stage I is 90%; on the other hand, when diagnosed at Stage IV the survivability rate is 10%.
This is truly a life-altering change for many lung cancer patients in the South Central Kentucky area. More patients now have a better chance of survival after a lung cancer diagnosis. So how does this all work?
“This clinic has already helped save numerous lives,” said Finch. “We have caught early-stage cancers in patients who had no idea they even had a nodule, and we have helped treat patients in late-stage cancers, helping them get the resources they need.”
Med Center Health’s Lung Nodule Program consists of a team of 11 providers, including pulmonologists, radiation oncologists, medical oncologists, and cardiothoracic surgeons. Together, this team of providers has more than 200 years of clinical experience in a wide variety of disciplines. Every Friday, this team meets together to view and discuss any patient who may need further examination.
“We gather all of the cases we are going to be discussing that day or seen in clinic that day,” said Dr. Rodney Steff, Pulmonologist at Med Center Health Western Kentucky Heart & Lung. “We as a group ask, ‘What does that patient need next? Do they need a CT scan? Do they need a PET scan? Do they need a blood test, or do we need to go straight to surgery?’ We’re all in agreement on that plan and then we send the patient for any testing they may need, so by the time they actually sit in the room in front of the physician, we already know what’s going on, what our plan is, and how we’re going to treat and diagnose the patient.”
The best way to treat lung cancer is to find it early and to treat quickly. With Med Center Health’s new Lung Nodule Program and Ion Bronchoscopy technology, patients now have new hope and an even better chance of surviving lung cancer.
To learn more about Med Center Health’s Lung Nodule Program, visit: MedCenterHealth.org/LungNoduleProgram.
-submitted by Med Center Health
