Dr. Wickii Thambiah Vigneswaran
Thoracic SurgeonDr. Wickii Vigneswaran at the Loyola University Medical Center is an internationally recognized thoracic surgeon with expertise in the treatment of pleural mesothelioma.

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Loyola University Medical Center Maywood, Illinois (IL)
Get to Know Dr. Wickii Vigneswaran
Dr. Wickii Vigneswaran worked previously at Loyola University from 1998 to 2005 before joining the nearby University of Chicago Cancer Center, where he helped build programs for lung transplantation and mesothelioma treatment.
He returned to Loyola University Medical Center for a second stint in 2016 when he was named chief of thoracic surgery.
The goal in returning to Loyola was to build a nationally recognized thoracic oncology surgery program that included advanced treatment of mesothelioma, something it previously lacked.
He started Loyola’s first multidisciplinary mesothelioma tumor board, which now meets biweekly to discuss each patient.
Vigneswaran has performed almost 300 surgeries for mesothelioma patients in his career, doing the aggressive extrapleural pneumonectomy and the lung-sparing but more detailed pleurectomy and decortication.
He has been a national leader in the belief that age alone should not be a deterrent to aggressive, potentially curative surgery for mesothelioma.
He also has extensive experience in minimally invasive robotics and video-assisted thoracic surgery, which is being used with different lung diseases.
Specialties of Dr. Wickii Vigneswaran
- Pleural mesothelioma
- Lung cancer
- Robotic surgery
- Pleurectomy and decortication surgery
- Lung transplantation
- Video-assisted surgery
- Esophageal cancer
- Bronchial Stenting

Dr. Wickii Vigneswaran’s Experience and Medical Education
- Loyola University Medical Center
- University of Chicago Medical Center
- University of Illinois
- Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota (Fellowship)
- University of Colorado School of Medicine (Fellowship)
- University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka (M.D.)
- Walsall General Hospital (Residency)
Awards and Certifications
- Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada
- Thoracic Surgery, Cardiothoracic Vascular Surgery
- American College of Chest Physicians
- Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh
Publications of Dr. Wickii Vigneswaran
- Vigneswaran, W. et al. (2017 March) Amount of Epithelioid Differentiation Is a Predictor of Survival in Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma. Annals of Thoracic Surgery.
- Williams, T. et al. (2015, November 1). Extended Pleurectomy and Decortication for Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma Is an Effective and Safe Cytoreductive Surgery in the Elderly. Annals of Thoracic Surgery.
- Molberg, N. et al. (2012, October 1). Quality of Life After Radical Pleurectomy Decortication for Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma. Annals of Thoracic Surgery.