OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. — Advances in medicine are improving the outcomes of lung cancer surgeries in Central Florida.
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“We were spending more time in the OR searching through the lung for what can be very difficult to find tumors,” Dr. Colleen Gaughan, a Thoracic Surgeon at AdventHealth Celebration, said.
Dr. Gaughan said time and lives are being saved with Cytalux.
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It’s the only FDA-approved fluorescent imaging technology that can illuminate lung cancer during surgery.
“They get an IV medication that’s infused through their whole body,” Dr. Gaughan said. It gets taken up by the tumor and then during surgery, while they’re already asleep, we use our special near-infrared camera to then see the tumor in real time.”
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Reena Caprario is one of those lives saved. After a growing nodule was found on her lung, she was diagnosed with stage one lung cancer.
“My lymph nodes under my armpits were hurting, I thought this isn’t normal,” Caprario said. “At first, I was like thank God, we caught it at stage one. Symptoms come at stage 3, coughing up blood. I didn’t have that; I had no symptoms at all.”
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Dr. Gaughan said because of Caprario’s quick action, and this advancement in technology, her team of doctors were able to successfully remove and treat the cancer.
“If you know that something is wrong, don’t blow it off,” Caprario said.
Doctors recommend if you think you are at high risk for lung cancer, to get screened once a year.
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