Methodist Fremont Health hosts lung cancer screening technology event

Methodist Fremont Health hosts lung cancer screening technology event

Mobile unit brings advanced biopsy and screening tools to rural Nebraska community

FREMONT, Neb. (WOWT) — Methodist Fremont Health hosted a hands on display Monday of advanced lung cancer screening technology, Intuitive Surgical’s Thoracic Oncology Mobile Experience — an 18-wheel, 80,000-pound traveling unit carrying equipment already in use at Methodist’s Omaha and Council Bluffs location.

Rural access at the center of the event

The event gave patients and the public a firsthand look at tools used to detect and biopsy lung cancer in its early stages. Dr. Adam Wells, a pulmonary and critical care physician at Methodist, said the goal is to close a screening gap that disproportionately affects rural communities.

“In the data that we have, rural Nebraska is massively under screened and their mortality rate is much higher,” Wells said. “So the hope is by bringing it here to the community we can catch it earlier, treat it faster and cure it sooner.”

Wells said Nebraska currently ranks eighth in the country for screening patients who qualify, but noted that figure represents only about 30% of the population that should be screened.

“That said, that is only about 30% of our population that need to be screened,” Wells said. “So there is a huge amount of people we would like to catch sooner. But we are doing a great job as a state and a city — but not in the rural communities.”

A patient’s experience

Fremont resident Darrell Hultgren said a CT scan last February revealed he had histoplasmosis, an infection caused by breathing in spores from contaminated soil. After treatment, a follow-up scan showed a fungus actively growing in his lungs.

“Started off there were only like 4 or 5 and the next time they checked it was 25,” Hultgren said. “So it was really growing, so they had to make sure it wasn’t cancer, so they did the biopsy and now I am being treated for that now.”

Hultgren’s infection was caught using equipment at Methodist’s Omaha location.

“He was found in the process of getting a scan not for any purpose for his lungs,” said Wells. “We found a spot. For him it turned out to not be cancer but because we found it, we flagged it, our nurse navigator saw it, we got him into clinic and down to Omaha for a biopsy all in the matter of 10 days.”

Hultgren is on the final month of medication for the infection in his lungs. After that, he will get another scan to see how progress is going.

What’s next for Fremont

Wells said the hope is to add the Ion Robotic System — used to screen for lung cancer — to the Fremont campus at some point this year. He recommended that anyone between the ages of 50 and 80 with a history of smoking get screened for lung cancer.

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