{"id":24086,"date":"2025-10-28T19:17:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-28T19:17:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/24086\/"},"modified":"2025-10-28T19:17:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T19:17:07","slug":"lung-cancer-survivor-credits-screening-program-for-saving-her-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/24086\/","title":{"rendered":"Lung Cancer Survivor Credits Screening Program for Saving Her Life"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nestor Villamizar, M.D., is a thoracic surgeon specializing in diseases of the chest at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center. For more information about the Lung Cancer Screening Program and treatments offered, click here<\/a> or visit the UHealth Collective<\/a>:<\/p>\n

MEET ISLARA SOUTO:<\/p>\n

Islara Souto quit smoking two decades ago. <\/p>\n

\u201cI smoked since I was, I believe, 18. After 20 years of screening, they found something,\u201d Islara says.<\/p>\n

The tiny nodule on Islara\u2019s lung was caught thanks to the Lung Cancer Screening Program at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center<\/a>. Nestor Villamizar, M.D.<\/a>, a thoracic surgeon specializing in diseases of the chest, says early detection is key. <\/p>\n

\u201cPatients 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\u2019s the way that we can detect cancer early and potentially cure it,\u201d says Dr. Villamizar.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor 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,\u201d Dr. Villamizar says.<\/p>\n

Patients in the screening program come in for a low-dose CT scan annually.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt 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,\u201d says Dr. Villamizar.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is important to know that when a patient is enrolled in lung cancer screening, it is not just a one-time X-ray,\u201d Dr. Villamizar says. \u201cThese patients should get screened at least once a year to monitor how their lung health changes over time,\u201d he adds. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been going on three years cancer free and I\u2019m very grateful,\u201d Islara says.<\/p>\n

She encourages anyone at risk to get past the stigma associated with smoking. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou could have been a former smoker 20, 30 years ago, but you\u2019re still in danger, you\u2019re still at risk. And so, I tried to promote this lung cancer screening and overcome that stigma, don\u2019t be embarrassed because you were a smoker,\u201d says Islara.<\/p>\n

Her message? Get checked! It could save your life. <\/p>\n

\u201cI want to make everybody aware, reduce that stigma and just get screened,\u201d Islara says.<\/p>\n

Focusing on You: Innovations in Modern Medicine is a series of healthcare-related stories airing regularly on WPLG Local 10. For more stories like this one, visit YouTube channels for UHealth, the University of Miami Health System.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2025 by WPLG Local10.com – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nestor Villamizar, M.D., is a thoracic surgeon specializing in diseases of the chest at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24087,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[123,125,124,7145],"class_list":["post-24086","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news","tag-uhealth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24086","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24086"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24086\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24086"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}