Detecting and Targeting Lung Cancer With Precision

By Tracy H. Stanton

Lisa Cooke of Coward, South Carolina, never suspected that enlarged lymph nodes on her neck would lead to a diagnosis of lung cancer. Today, she is grateful to her Primary Care Physician Dr. Heather Shelton, McLeod Pulmonologist Dr. Vinod Jona and McLeod Cardiothoracic Surgeon Dr. Srinivas Kolla for detecting and treating her early-stage cancer.

When Lisa first noticed the enlarged glands on her neck in 2023 she was treated by McLeod Employee Health for an infection. “These huge lymph nodes suddenly appeared on both sides of my neck. I was prescribed a couple of rounds of antibiotics but the swelling remained. When I made an appointment with Dr. Shelton for an examination of the lymph nodes she immediately ordered a CT scan.

The scan identified a spot on my lung that they began monitoring. A follow-up CT scan of my lungs six months later detected that the lung nodule had grown in size. At that point, she ordered a PET scan to determine if this was cancer.”

Lisa learned the results of the scan on her McLeod MyChart, but she saw this as a silver lining because it gave her a couple of days to process the news before meeting with Dr. Jona.

“My husband Allan and I met with Dr. Jona on a Wednesday, I saw Dr. Kolla on Thursday, I underwent surgery on Monday, and I went home the next day.” Fortunately for Lisa, she didn’t require any additional treatment for her cancer besides surgery.

A former smoker of more than 25 years, Lisa quit in 2013. Besides the enlarged lymph glands on her neck, she had no other symptoms of lung cancer. “I was not coughing or short of breath. I’m honestly happy that those lymph nodes popped out like they did or I may have been diagnosed at a later stage rather than Stage I.”

“We are fortunate at McLeod Regional Medical Center to have the latest next generation robot installed and dedicated exclusively to thoracic surgical cases in one of our Heart and Vascular Operating Rooms,” said Dr. Kolla. “However, robotic surgery is more than just the robot and the surgeon. At McLeod, it takes a whole team of clinical staff to ensure a smooth operation and good outcomes. In addition to their many years of service, there is a unified flow among the team. Quite frankly, the McLeod Robotic Surgical team members are some of the best staff I have ever worked with. I have operated in numerous medical facilities, and none are as good as our teams at McLeod.”

Dr. Kolla explained that since joining the lung cancer program at McLeod, the comprehensive, coordinated cancer team has made major impacts in not only the detection of lung cancer, but at an earlier stage. “I looked at our diagnoses two years ago and we were diagnosing more Stage IV cancers than Stage I – Stage I being early and Stage IV being late cancers. Two years later, with our lung cancer screening program, we are now detecting cancers at a rate of three to one early versus late.

“Thoracic surgery is a component that integrates into the total coordinated care of the patient and that is how we have always approached it. The collaboration of our cancer team at McLeod and the addition of this new robot is taking the treatment of lung cancer to the next level, allowing us to provide superior care to patients. We feel that is the best way to serve our patients,” added Dr. Kolla.

Following her diagnosis, Lisa also joined a national clinical research trial currently open at the McLeod Center for Cancer Treatment and Research called the Adela CAMPERR Study. The goal of the CAMPERR Study is to support the development of a blood test to detect cancer at early stages when treatment may be more effective. The study is open to patients newly diagnosed with non-metastatic breast, colorectal, lung, prostate, esophageal, gastric and head and neck cancers who have not yet started treatment. It involves a cancer screening questionnaire and a simple blood draw before cancer treatment begins, then blood is drawn twice a year for up to four years.

Lisa is grateful to the McLeod teams who cared for her, and that her cancer was diagnosed early. Allan, who quit smoking in 2014, recently underwent a lung cancer screening, and Lisa encourages others who have smoked in the past to get screened. She adds if there is something unexplainable like the enlarged lymph nodes she experienced, “to get it checked immediately.”

Comprehensive Lung Cancer Care at McLeod

Early detection of lung cancer is essential to improving survival rates. At McLeod Regional Medical Center and McLeod Health Seacoast, Dr. Vinod Jona, Dr. Carmen Taype-Roberts, Dr. Melissa Miara, Dr. Kevin Dineen and Dr. Abhijit Mahalingashetty utilize Ion, a robotic-assisted technology, to detect lung cancer in its earliest stages. The Ion system provides pulmonologists with navigation and guidance to areas of the lungs that were difficult to access with traditional technology. With Ion, these physicians can go deeper into the lungs to locate the much smaller lung nodules, perform a biopsy to precisely detect lung cancer and then develop a treatment plan all with improved speed and accuracy.

Advancements such as the Ion technology, robotic-assisted thoracic surgery and radiation oncology treatment, all strengthen the lung cancer care McLeod Health offers to patients in the region.