Rodney Landreneau, M.D.

Dr. Rodney Landreneau is a cardiovascular and thoracic surgeon who specializes in treating cancer patients, including those with lung cancer and pleural mesothelioma. He has worked in several prestigious hospitals and medical institutions and currently works out of his private practice, Landreneau Thoracic Surgical Associates, based in Kittanning, Pennsylvania.

Dr. Landreneau began his career in Louisiana, but has been working in western Pennsylvania for several years. In 2011 he was listed as a top doctor in the region by Pittsburgh Magazine. Dr. Landreneau is dedicated to advancing surgical procedures for managing and treating cancer.

Early Education and Career

Dr. Landreneau grew up in Louisiana and had medicine and patient care in his blood. His father worked as a surgeon in the small town of Eunice, Louisiana and his brothers also grew up to become surgeons. Dr. Landreneau earned his undergraduate degree from Louisiana State University and earned his medical degree through the school’s medical program in New Orleans. His residencies in general surgery and then thoracic surgery were completed at the University of Texas in Dallas and at the University of Michigan.

Dr. Landreneau spent many years of his career in Pennsylvania with a brief return to Louisiana before again, coming back to the Pittsburgh area. He became the head of thoracic surgery at the University of Pittsburgh in 1990 and gained a reputation as one of the leading lung surgeons in the region.

Innovative Mesothelioma Treatments in Louisiana

While he has spent most of his career in western Pennsylvania, Dr. Landreneau returned to his home state in 2013 to work at the Ochsner Cancer Institute. There he served as the chief of general thoracic surgery and director. He returned to New Orleans because he believed that the region’s cancer patients were underserved and that he could make a difference here.

During his time at Ochsner, Dr. Landreneau performed an innovative new procedure for treating mesothelioma, the first instance of such a procedure being done in Louisiana. The procedure is called surgical debulking with hyperthermic chemotherapy. A similar procedure is more often done for patients with peritoneal mesothelioma. It involves surgically removing as much of the tumors as possible and then circulating heated chemotherapy drugs throughout the abdominal cavity.

Dr. Landreneau was the first to perform this procedure in patients with pleural mesothelioma in his home state of Louisiana. The procedure included the debulking to remove tumors and then the circulation of heated drugs through the chest cavity. While he had performed the procedure many times in Pennsylvania, patients from the south did not have access to it unless they came north to facilities like those at the University of Pittsburgh.

Current Practice

After serving for a few years in New Orleans and bringing the innovative pleural mesothelioma treatment to patients there who desperately needed it, Dr. Landreneau returned to Pennsylvania and worked at Allegheny General Hospital. Here he served as the director of the Esophageal and Lung Institute before founding his private practice.

Some of the surgical procedures that Dr. Landreneau currently performs for cancer patients include the debulking and heated chemotherapy procedure and video-assisted lobectomy, a minimally invasive procedure used to remove a lobe of the lung. He is certified to perform laser surgery, cyberknife robotic surgery, and photodynamic therapy.

In addition to his role as an active surgeon in the Pittsburgh area, Dr. Landreneau also serves many other roles in several positions. He belongs to the Alliance Cancer Cooperative Group, is an investigator for the American College of Surgeons Oncology Group, and is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons. Dr. Landreneau has also won many awards for his work, including the Thoracic Surgical Teaching Award and Health Care Hero Award, and has published more than 500 journal articles.