Lung Cancer Survivor Credits Screening Program for Saving Her Life

Islara Souto quit smoking two decades ago. 

“I smoked since I was, I believe, 18. After 20 years of screening, they found something,” Islara says.

The tiny nodule on Islara’s lung was caught thanks to the Lung Cancer Screening Program at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Nestor Villamizar, M.D., a thoracic surgeon specializing in diseases of the chest, says early detection is key. 

“Patients who are older than 50 years old and have a history of smoking are eligible for a low-dose chest CT scan every year. And that’s the way that we can detect cancer early and potentially cure it,” says Dr. Villamizar.

Sylvester Offers the Most Advanced Technology and Treatments

The Lung Cancer Screening Program at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center is designed to monitor at-risk patients very closely. If something seems suspicious, patients are treated right away, leading to better outcomes.

“For early-stage lung cancer, our preference is for minimally invasive robotic surgery with sparing the majority of the lung. She was eligible for this segmentectomy,” Dr. Villamizar says.

Patients in the screening program come in for a low-dose CT scan annually.

“It is important to know that when a patient is enrolled in lung cancer screening, it is not just a one-time X-ray. It needs to be that it gets performed at least every year because what is going to tell us if a lung nodule is a cancer or not is the growth pattern of that nodule over time like in my patient,” says Dr. Villamizar.

“It is important to know that when a patient is enrolled in lung cancer screening, it is not just a one-time X-ray,” Dr. Villamizar says. “These patients should get screened at least once a year to monitor how their lung health changes over time,” he adds. 

“I’ve been going on three years cancer free and I’m very grateful,” Islara says.

She encourages anyone at risk to get past the stigma associated with smoking. 

“You could have been a former smoker 20, 30 years ago, but you’re still in danger, you’re still at risk. And so, I tried to promote this lung cancer screening and overcome that stigma, don’t be embarrassed because you were a smoker,” says Islara.

Her message? Get checked! It could save your life. 

“I want to make everybody aware, reduce that stigma and just get screened,” Islara says.

Video transcript compiled by Janna Ross for ‘Focusing on You: Innovations in Modern Medicine,’ a series of healthcare-related stories airing regularly on WPLG Local 10.  For more stories like this one, visit UHealth’s YouTube channel.

Tags: Dr. Nestor Villamizar, focusing on you, lung cancer, lung cancer screening, segmentectomy, thoracic surgeon