Dr. Fontaine Talks About His Experience Treating Mesothelioma

[MUSIC PLAYING] We're here with Dr. Fontaine from Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida. Hello, Dr. Fontaine. How are you today? Good morning. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself? Well, I'm a chest surgeon, a thoracic surgeon. I was born and raised in Montreal in Canada. And I've been at Moffitt Cancer Center now for four years. So I was recruited to work in the department of thoracic and GI oncology, and I specialize in treating mesothelioma, lung cancer, and esophageal cancer. How much experience do you have in treating mesothelioma? Just two years ago, I was named the director of our Mesothelioma Research and Treatment Centers. We've been treating hundreds of patients with mesothelioma, and we've treated the most in the southeast of the United States. I've been doing this since 2005, I guess. What is mesothelioma? Mesothelioma is the cancer of the lining around the lung. It can also sometimes be of the lining around the belly or the heart. But most so often, it's a cancer related to asbestos exposure that develops many years later in the lining around the lung. How do you diagnose mesothelioma? Mesothelioma usually presents with patients who are short of breath and most often have fluid around the lung. The best way to diagnose mesothelioma is called a thoracoscopy. That's where we put a patient to sleep, make a little cut, go in there with a camera, suction out all the fluid, descend it for analysis, also known as cytology, and then taking biopsies of the lining around the lung, called the pleura. With these biopsies, specialized pathologists can take a look at them under a microscope and be able to make the proper diagnosis of mesothelioma. What are the treatment options available to mesothelioma patients? There's a variety of treatments for mesothelioma patients. The treatments are looking at two things. One is about improving the quantity of life, and the other one is about the quality of life. And I think both are very important. And each treatment will serve one or the other of these goals. Most patients with mesothelioma would require usually a combination of three things-- chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery. Sometimes, however, surgery is not the best option for certain patients. And therefore, chemotherapy and certain types of chemotherapy, such as immune therapy or small molecule therapy, may be the best options for certain patients. Why is choosing a mesothelioma specialist so important? Mesothelioma is a rare type of cancer. And there are very few doctors and medical teams in the country that have extensive experience with it. That's why it's so important for patients with mesothelioma to seek consultation from medical teams and centers who have a lot of experience with this rare disease. Doctors who have a lot of experience in treating this disease will be able to offer their patients the most innovative treatments and the best chance of long-term survival. [MUSIC PLAYING]