Loyola University Medical Center
Those suffering from mesothelioma and other asbestos-related conditions in the Midwest are now able to turn to Loyola University Medical Center for integrative, specialized cancer care.
Recently returning to Loyola, Dr. Wickii Vigneswaran is a world-class thoracic specialist and surgeon. Dr. Vigneswaran has transformed the standard of mesothelioma treatment; his presence has inspired those with knowledge of the disease to join his team. In regard to the treatment of mesothelioma, Loyola has created a tumor board that could be regarded as unique.
It consists of medical professionals from every profession, such as radiologists, medical oncologists, and pathologists. This board congregates every two weeks in order to discuss the treatment regiment of every single mesothelioma patient at the cancer center. This collaboration is having a direct impact on the life expectancy and quality of the patients; it has also brought Loyola University Medical Center into the spotlight of the mesothelioma community.
The Loyola Medical Center has transformed from treating just a number of mesothelioma patients every year to treating around forty per year. The tumor board also consists of medical oncologist Dr. Muaiad Kittaneh, radiologist Dr. John Hibbeln, Dr. Syed Osman, and pathologists Water Jeske and Jeanie Walenga.
Bernadin Cancer Center
The Loyola Medical Center, conceived in 1969, has flourished into an essential component of the Loyola Health System. The Loyola Health System is a massive network of medical institutions that includes two large campuses and over thirty specialty and primary care locations throughout Will, DuPage, and Cook counties.
The medical center is devoted to its Catholic Jesuit roots in regard to its attention to healing the body, mind, and spirit of those who enter its doors. The location at the Loyola University Medical Center is the epicenter of Loyola’s massive campus in Maywood-Illinois. The campus is also home to the Loyola Outpatient Center, the Stritch School of Medicine, and the Cardinal Bernadin Cancer Center. Adding to the size of the massive school, Loyola annexed the thirty-six acre Gottlieb campus in the neighborhood of Melrose Park; this area currently houses a two-hundred and fifty bed hospital known as the Marjorie G. Weinberg Cancer Center.
Many institutions have ranked Loyola Medical Center as one of the top medical institutions in the country due to its incredible dedication towards cancer care and science. The U.S. News and World Report ranked the hospital in the top twenty institutions in the country for heart surgery and cardiology.
The hospital is renown for its top-quality care in countless fields of medicine, such as the following: cardiovascular disease, neurological disorders, cancer, and childhood illnesses. Loyola physicians have also been included in Castle Connelly Medical’s “America’s Top Doctors” publications.
Novel Technologies and World-Class Physicians
One of Loyola’s main draws is its unique pairing of talent and technology. Now that Vigneswaran is director of thoracic surgery, this is inevitably a draw for the hospital. Vigneswaran is one of the most important physicians in the world in the fields of minimally invasive surgery, robot-assisted surgery, and video-assisted surgery.
One of the most fascinating things about treatment at Loyola is the way that technology is integrated with human talent. Much of this is credited towards Vigneswaran being the director of the hospital’s thoracic surgery department. Vigneswaran has been paving the way in the disciplines of minimally invasive surgery, robot-assisted surgery, and video-assisted surgery. At Loyola, the lung and thoracic oncology programs are specifically equipped with the most novel tools for addressing asbestos-related cancers such as mesothelioma. They are equipped to carry out 3-D video assisted thoracoscopic surgery (also known as VATS).
Innovation in Research
Loyola is revered in the cancer research community for the groundbreaking work they are doing. It is one of the most revered institutions in the country because of the research that they do there; the kind of research that can transform ordinary clinical studies into new, hyper-effective treatment techniques.
At the Cardinal Bernadin Cancer Center, Dr. Kathy Albain (professor and director of medical oncology), has made the comparison between a number of promising drug combination utilized to fight mesothelioma. In 2012, Dr. Albain participated in a study that examined the efficacy of the addition of bevacizumab to gemcitabine/cisplatin therapy, which is a tried and true combination for managing a variety of cancers.