Dr. Tracey Weigel

Profile

Dr. Tracey Weigel knows that mesothelioma patients may feel overwhelmed as they come to the hospital seeking treatment for their illness.

That's why she suggests that patients arrange a pre-treatment meeting with their entire medical team so they fully understand the procedures that they are about to undergo.

Mesothelioma truly represents a disease that needs to be addressed in a multidisciplinary fashion,

said Weigel, who cares for between 10 and 15 mesothelioma patients in a typical year at the University of Wisconsin's five clinics.

She advises patients to

talk to all three oncologists: a medical, radiation and surgical oncologist … all at once to ensure that all options are clearly explained up front, prior to treatment.

She says communicating well with a multi-disciplinary team can help patients feel more at ease about their upcoming treatment and during their stay at the hospital.

[Having] all three physicians in the room with the patient answering his or her questions [ensures] that the patient hears and receives unified and consistent explanations and advice.

The University of Wisconsin's hospitals provide patients with a specialized group of medical professionals that includes 'dedicated thoracic (non-cardiac) surgeons, thoracic anesthesia staff and a thoracic nurse educator/specialist."

In addition, the hospitals 'have a novel Adaptable Acuity Care Unit that allows the patient the opportunity to stay in the same room, with the same nurse and physician providers their entire hospital stay," Weigel said. "Our patients are not transferred back and forth from the intensive care unit to the regular floor."

This type of team approach to treatment can give patients a better chance at life, Weigel believes.

Multidisciplinary treatment for mesothelioma is not uncommon. Treatment for the cancer can entail a number of procedures, including chemotherapy, radiation therapy and surgery.

Many patients receive two or more types of therapy, which can require additional planning but often extends a patient's survival. When this is the case, Weigel recommends that

Treatments should be integrated due to their interdependence.

As a thoracic surgeon, Weigel knows firsthand that the complexity of treatment can be a challenge, but with more than 25 years of experience she has learned the intricacies of the typical operations for mesothelioma patients.

The surgeries are "long and tedious," Weigel said, "and [they] require meticulous attention to detail to remove the entire pleural-based tumor."

Safer surgery, however, is one of the major improvements she has seen in mesothelioma treatment over the last decade. For instance, most of her patients are given an extrapleural pneumonectomy or a pleurectomy and decortication. Occasionally, she will perform a VATS pleurodesis.

I have a special interest in an aggressive but safe surgical approach … for patients who are acceptable surgical candidates.

Weigel is currently looking forward to future involvement with mesothelioma clinical trials to explore additional progressive treatments for mesothelioma. 

Bio

According to Tracey Weigel, M.D., mesothelioma treatments have significantly advanced in the last decade, and some of the main transformations have become key aspects in modern therapy.

The primary changes in mesothelioma treatments have resulted in "better chemotherapy and safer surgery," said Weigel, who is chief of the Section of Thoracic Surgery at the University of Wisconsin.

Throughout her career, she has performed a wide range of surgeries, including thoracoscopic talc pleurodesis, bronchoscopy and lung reductive therapy.

Weigel takes special interest in the surgical improvements that can minimize a procedure's impact on a patient whose body is already weakened by cancer.  

Certified through the American Board of Surgery and the American Board of Thoracic Surgery, Weigel also has experience with lung volume reduction surgery and esophagectomies.

In addition to studying advanced chemotherapy and radiology treatments, Weigel has worked on a number of studies about laparoscopic resections and CT-scans in potential lung cancer screening programs, funded by the National Institutes of Health.

Weigel graduated from the University of Rochester School of Medicine in 1986 and then completed a surgical residency at Brown University in 1993. She completed a fellowship in surgical oncology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Institute in New York.

Publications

Featured in journals such as Annals of Thoracic Surgery and Clinical Nuclear Medicine, Weigel has authored 17 articles throughout her career, many of which explore issues of radiography techniques and minimally invasive surgical procedures.