The LungCare Comprehensive Cancer Program at CentraState Medical Center offers advanced services, expertise, and technology for diagnosing, treating and helping patients recover from lung cancer. Because CentraState’s focus is on the whole person, not simply the disease, we also offer guidance on maintaining lung health and complementary therapies to support self-healing and emotional well-being, while patients maximize the benefits of conventional treatment.

Our multidisciplinary, integrated approach assures patients and their families of continuity of care and the convenience of finding everything under one roof—in the friendly, attentive environment of a community-based medical center.

Our program is led by an outstanding group of board-certified physicians specializing in thoracic surgery, pulmonology, radiation oncology and medical oncology. Trained at leading academic medical centers—such as Yale, Harvard, and John Hopkins—these doctors combine their expertise to evaluate and treat all stages of lung cancer. The team also includes Magnet-designated nurses credentialed in chemotherapy and certified in cancer care, as well as other professionals focused on the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of lung cancer patients.

Advanced image testing helps to locate tumors, so a biopsy can be taken to verify the existence of cancer. Tissue samples are promptly analyzed on site in our Pathology Department. If cancer is found, further sample analysis will help predict how aggressively it may behave and how to direct therapies to stop it.

Additional imaging tests may be needed to determine the stage(extent) of the cancer—whether it’s confined to the lungs or has spread. These tests can also help determine whether the cancer is in fact lung cancer or if it’s another type of cancer that started from another organ and spread to the lungs. This is important to know because the treatment is different for different types of cancers. All imaging tests are performed on site in our Radiology Department.

Each CentraState patient receives an individualized treatment plan based on his or her unique age, life expectancy, health status, lifestyle and personal preference; the severity of the lung cancer and whether it is a recurrence of a pre-existing cancer; and potential complications or side effects of each therapeutic approach.

The Lung Cancer Program offers some of the latest treatments for lung cancer including:

• Radiation Therapy—External beam therapy, including 3D conformal radiotherapy, intensity-modulated radiation therapy, image-guided radiation therapy, and high-dose rate brachytherapy.

• Surgery—CentraState was one of the first hospitals in the area to offer video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS), a significant advancement in minimally invasive lung cancer surgery. CentraState has two thoracic surgeons on staff who were among the first in the world to perform this procedure and have helped to develop and teach it to other surgeons across the nation. Together they have successfully completed over 5000 video-assisted thoracic surgeries.

• Chemotherapy—Medicines that kills or halt the growth of cancer cells. This approach is generally is used to relieve symptoms and prolong survival when the cancer has spread beyond the lungs. Options on the latest treatments for lung cancer may vary depending on an individual’s age, stage of cancer and its severity, lifestyle and other factors.

• Proton Therapy—In 2012, CentraState will be joining Procure to open the first and only Proton Therapy Center in the area. Proton therapy is an effective form of radiation therapy for many types of tumors. It destroys cancer cells by preventing them from dividing and growing, just like standard X-ray radiation. What makes proton therapy different from X-ray radiation is that less healthy tissue is damaged during treatment. This is because protons release more of their cancer destroying energy directly in the tumor and less in surrounding healthy tissue.

Some patients may be eligible to participate in a lung cancer clinical trial in which they receive the latest treatments on lung cancer before it becomes publicly available.

Patients may find dealing with the emotional and physical effects of lung cancer to be stressful, even isolating. To help them cope, we offer an array of supportive services, including:

• Cancer Support Group for Patients and Families
• Complementary therapies
• Health and wellness classes focusing on topics such as stress management, healthy nutrition, physical fitness, and smoking cessation.
• The Cancer Navigator Program, which helps patients and their families through the cancer journey by providing guidance, support, and resource referrals.
• Cancer Resources
• Cancer Risk Assessment & Counseling

CentraState is accredited by the American College of Surgeons (ACoS) Commission on Cancer (CoC), which sets the standards for cancer care programs nationwide and has recognized CentraState with an Outstanding Achievement Award.