Kentucky has a lung cancer problem. Michael Gieske, MD, is on a mission to raise awareness about the disease and detect, treat, and save as many people as possible.

A primary care physician, Gieske is the director of lung cancer screening at St. Elizabeth’s HealthCare. The Kentucky native spoke to GO2 for Lung Cancer about the challenges facing his state, what he’s doing about it, and why he trekked across Nepal for eight days to Everest Basecamp.

Tackling the Tobacco Belt Epidemic

Kentucky has the highest cancer rate in the country and one of the lowest 5-year survival rates after diagnosis. Only 17.6% of Kentuckians diagnosed with lung cancer live for five years post-diagnosis. Part of the problem? A historical lack of early diagnosis meant that lung cancer was not found in the early stages when patients have the highest survival rates.

To tackle the problem, St. Elizabeth’s implemented a Lung Cancer Screening Program and started rigorously tracking screening data. In 2015, it was certified by GO2 for Lung Cancer as a Screening Center of Excellence. In April 2020, the community health system was further certified as a GO2 for Lung Cancer Care Continuum Center of Excellence (CCCOE). This certification recognized not only St. Elizabeth’s work in screening but also its commitment to integrated care across the lung cancer screening and treatment continuum.

“To become a CCCOE, you have to have sophisticated care coordination and a multidisciplinary team that not only reviews the scans as they come in but also follows patients through the whole spectrum of care,” said Gieske. “And one of our most important program components is our Nodule Review Board.” He explained that the multidisciplinary Nodule Review Board looks at every patient with a suspicious nodule, whether found via screening or incidentally after a patient receives a low dose CT scan of the chest or other qualifying CT image of the chest.

Catching Lung Cancer Early

Gieske understands the history of lung cancer in his state, and he says that many patients and providers still have “a nihilism attached to it as they view it as a death sentence.” To combat this, the screening center has a robust outreach program. He also reaches out personally to both patients and providers, including visits to primary care sites, to promote the value of lung cancer screening. As testament to this success, one of his program’s referring primary care physicians (PCPs) whose “screening skepticism” was turned around by this outreach agreed to co-present with Gieske on building PCP trust and collaboration in lung cancer screening as part of GO2 for Lung Cancer’s annual Centers of Excellence Summit last year.

The results are in the numbers. In 2021, the Lung Cancer Screening Program expects to complete its 20,000th lung cancer screen since inception. As a result, 69% of lung cancers are being found in Stage I or Stage II—significantly increasing survival rates for patients.

Trekking to Everest  

Always an advocate, Gieske’s commitment to lung cancer awareness took on new heights when he carried the GO2 for Lung Cancer banner with him to the foot of Mount Everest. He trekked 50 miles in eight days for an elevation gain of 9,000 feet. That’s a bit like climbing from sea level to Denver, Colorado—twice. He ended up at about 18,000 feet. On the ninth day he hiked up Mount Kala Patthar to watch the sunrise over Mount Everest.

The trip was both a spiritual journey and a physical challenge.

“One of my objectives was to learn about Buddhism and how it plays into the mindset of the Nepalese people. They’ve had an amazing resiliency through the pandemic. Their tourist industry has largely been decimated by the pandemic. They don’t have any government support. They don’t have Medicaid, they don’t have unemployment, and they don’t have COVID checks. They depend on one another to face the adversity they’re dealt with.”

Fortunately for Kentuckians, they have Michael Gieske looking out for their health and wellbeing.

To learn more about GO2 for Lung Cancer’s Centers of Excellence, visit our website.