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Surgeon discusses promising lung cancer screenings

Dr. Marcelo DaSilva, division director of Thoracic Surgery, talks about how Loyola has been a pioneering medical center in so many specialties. He specializes in cancer, especially lung cancers such as mesothelioma. Lung cancer kills more people than cancers of the prostate, colon and the breast combined each year.

Currently, about 150,000 people die of lung cancer every year in the U.S. And this statistic continues to rise. But there is a very promising lung screening using a CT scan that has been shown to reduce mortality by 20 percent. This is a test that your primary care physicians can order. For early-stage lung cancer (Stage I-II), surgery is the best option and patients can actually be cured. This is why early lung screening is so important.

Loyola now offers 3-D lung surgery using minimally invasive techniques. To reduce your risk for lung cancer, Dr. DaSilva strongly recommends not only that you quit or not start smoking, but also that you avoid second-hand smoke.

He also talks about conditions that may lead to lung transplant, such as cystic fibrosis. Loyola is one of the few centers in the U.S. to complete more than 750 lung transplants. Dr. DaSilva is a leading expert in mesothelioma, which is often triggered by exposure to asbestos.

He talks about how important it is to see a physician or surgeon who has experience in treating mesothelioma because this makes a huge difference in a patient's results. He talks about one technique that bathes the lungs with heated chemotherapy, killing any stray cancer cells in the lungs.


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