Landreneau Forging New Path for Mesothelioma Patients in Pittsburgh

Renowned thoracic surgeon Dr. Rodney Landreneau once hoped the number of pleural mesothelioma patients would have declined significantly by now — decades after the widespread use of asbestos dropped dramatically in America. But his hope never materialized. Landreneau, a mesothelioma and lung cancer specialist, and pioneer in treatment advances, remains in high demand today. Last month, he moved back to Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh, where he helped carve his reputation as a surgical innovator 25 years ago. "Unfortunately, there still are a lot of patients being diagnosed with mesothelioma in this area," he told Asbestos.com recently. "We're back here to serve them now. We can help them. Advances have been made recently. There was a void that needed to be filled." Landreneau is one of the few surgeons in the nation performing the surgical debulking/hyperthermic chemoperfusion combination for mesothelioma patients. It involves removing all visible signs of cancer throughout the thoracic cavity before bathing it with heated chemotherapy drugs to kill any microscopic remains. Broke New Ground in Louisiana In 2013, he became the first surgeon to perform the procedure in Louisiana, where he quickly attracted mesothelioma patients to the Ochsner Cancer Center in New Orleans. He returned to Pittsburgh in October as co-director of the Esophageal and Lung Institute at Allegheny, where he worked before spending almost 20 years at the nearby University of Pittsburgh Medica...
Source: Asbestos and Mesothelioma News - Category: Environmental Health Authors: Tags: Treatment & Doctors Source Type: news