Renowned Thoracic Surgeon Enhances Mesothelioma Care in FL
Treatment & Doctors
Written by Travis Rodgers | Edited By Amy Edel
Dr. Rodney Landreneau is joining the renowned Thoracic Surgical Program at Tampa General Hospital. He spent decades caring for patients with pleural mesothelioma and lung cancer patients in Western Pennsylvania at the University of Pittsburgh and Penn Highlands Healthcare. He’s now moved more than 1,000 miles to help augment Tampa General Hospital Cancer Institute’s successful patient care.
Landreneau has nearly 40 years of experience treating malignant pleural mesothelioma and lung cancer, as well as benign and malignant diseases of the esophagus. An internationally recognized scientific investigator in the treatment of thoracic malignant conditions, he’s been a major contributor to key National Cancer Institute clinical trials.
“My recruitment to the Region by TGH was to further enhance the treatment opportunities for patients of the Gulf South, the Carolinas, and Florida experiencing these thoracic cancers,” Landreneau told The Mesothelioma Center at Asbestos.com.
Plans for TGH Cancer Institute
Landreneau joins Dr. K. Eric Sommers, director of thoracic oncology at TGH Cancer institute, and Dr. Jonathan Daniel. Both Sommers and Daniel have extensive experience in treating complex lung cancer, esophageal cancer and mesothelioma. Inclusion of Landreneau establishes TGH Cancer Institute as one of the most experienced thoracic surgical oncology programs in the Southeast U.S.
The Thoracic Surgical Oncologic Team, Gynecologic Surgical Oncologists Drs. Tom Rutherford and Matthew Anderson and General Surgical Oncologists Drs. Timothy Nywening and Andreas KaraChristos have joined together to establish a new multidisciplinary Pleural & Peritoneal Surface Malignancy Program. TGH’s is the only program of its kind in Florida and the Eastern U.S.
The team will focus on surgical removal of all visible tumor in the abdomen from ovarian or abdominal carcinomatosis and intrathoracic tumor from mesothelioma or metastatic cancer combined with hyperthermic intracavitary regional chemotherapy (HIPEC). This will provide opportunities for patients not seen elsewhere in the Southeast.
“We will be providing a highly coordinated multidisciplinary care opportunity through the TGH Cancer Institute second to none for patients with these malignancies,” Landreneau shared.
Tampa General Hospital is also working on important research that may lead to potential breakthroughs that could one day change how mesothelioma care is handled. The program is also collaborating with the University of Pittsburgh and Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.
“The Tampa General Hospital’s Cancer Institute’s biorepository and basic science program is exploring the molecular biology of mesothelioma and aiming at innovative therapies,” Landreneau said.
Need for Focused Cancer Care in FL and the Southeast
Landreneau believes that as people who worked in industries with histories of asbestos exposure retire to Florida and the Southeast, the region will see increasing numbers of mesothelioma and asbestos-related lung disease in the region. This will increase the need for the pioneering treatment program at TGH.
“I think that Tampa Bay area is a giant, vibrant, growing community with many people unfortunately at risk for developing lung cancer and mesothelioma from their past occupational and paraoccupational exposures to asbestos,” Landreneau noted.
Symptoms of mesothelioma typically don’t present until decades after being exposed to asbestos as a result of the mesothelioma latency period. Landreneau added, “Asbestos fibers can become trapped inside of the body and eventually cause inflammation, scarring of the lungs and lung lining, and the abdominal organ lining, DNA damage and the development of lung cancer and pleural and peritoneal cancers years later.”
Dr. Landreneau’s Background
Landreneau is a native of Louisiana and graduated with a medical degree from LSU Medical Center in New Orleans. He completed his general surgical training at the University of Texas-Southwestern Medical School in Dallas, Texas. His cardiothoracic surgery and thoracic oncologic surgical training was at the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor.
Before recently joining Tampa General Hospital, Landreneau was a tenured professor of surgery in the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center for more than 20 years. Most recently he served as the director of thoracic surgery at Penn Highlands Healthcare, a large central Pennsylvania Healthcare system.
Previously, he served as the medical director of The Gayle and Tom Benson Cancer at Ochsner Medical Center in New Orleans, Louisiana. At Ochsner Medical Center Landreneau performed Louisiana’s first surgical debulking of pleural mesothelioma coupled with HIPEC for patients with malignant mesothelioma.
Landreneau is also a member of many prestigious surgical and cancer related societies.
- American Surgical Association
- The Society of Clinical Oncology
- The Society of Thoracic Surgery
- The Society of Surgical Oncology
- The Society of University Surgeons
- American Association for Thoracic Surgery
He is the author of more than 400 peer-reviewed medical articles. Landreneau is also the editor of 7 thoracic surgical textbooks relating to the care of lung cancer, mesothelioma and esophageal cancer.
