Traditionally, mesothelioma has been considered a complex disease that is difficult to treat. But the experts at Penn’s Abramson Cancer Center emphasized the real potential for new treatments for mesothelioma at the 2011 Focus On Mesothelioma Conference.
While there is no cure for mesothelioma, new treatments for mesothelioma have advanced to the point that it can be managed as a chronic disease, one that patients live with for a number of years.
The importance of taking a healing approach, addressing the needs of the whole person through integrative medicine, and developing an individualized treatment plan were the dominant themes of the conference
Mesothelioma as a Chronic Disease
"I know what patients hear when they are diagnosed with this disease," said Joseph Friedberg, MD, thoracic surgeon. "They hear this is incurable and that there are no effective treatments, but we are changing that. We have many patients who are living longer, quality lives."A key to this progress is the Abramson Cancer Center’s multidisciplinary approach to treatment. Experienced experts from a wide variety of fields including surgery, medical oncology, radiation oncology, pulmonology, pathology, radiology and a variety of supportive care fields care for patients with mesothelioma and pleural disease.
In his opening address to the conference, Abramson Cancer Center Director, Chi Van Dang, MD, PhD, recognized the Penn mesothelioma and pleural program as one of the most comprehensive in the nation and that it has the complete team of experts working together.
Each speaker echoed that same sentiment, urging patients to be seen in a center that has specialized expertise in the diagnosis and treatment of mesothelioma. When treating patients with mesothelioma or pleural disease, Penn Medicine pleural specialists offer more treatment options than most other health systems across the country and around the world.
Penn Medicine's Mesothelioma and Pleural Program and Penn's Abramson Cancer Center bring together internationally renowned experts in medical, surgical and radiation oncology and pulmonology who collaborate in the diagnosis, treatment and research of mesothelioma and pleural disease.
Learn more about mesothelioma treatment at the Abramson Cancer Center.
Watch all the presentations from the 2011 Focus On Mesothelioma Conference.
Penn's Abramson Cancer Center is a national cancer center in Philadelphia providing comprehensive cancer treatment, clinical trials for cancer and is a cancer research center. The National Cancer Institute has designated the Abramson Cancer Center a Comprehensive Cancer Center, one of only 40 such cancer centers in the United States.
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