Dr. Farid Gharagozloo
Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgeon at UCF Lake Nona Medical Center
Dr. Farid Gharagozloo is a thoracic and cardiovascular surgeon at the UCF Lake Nona Medical Center in Orlando, Florida. He is a trained mesothelioma doctor who previously worked at two Florida hospitals.
Pleural Mesothelioma
UCF Lake Nona Medical Center
6718 Lake Nona Boulevard, Orlando, FL, 32827
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More About Mesothelioma Specialist Dr. Farid Gharagozloo
Mesothelioma is a rare type of cancer of specific linings of the body, such as the lining of the lungs or abdominal cavity. Most cases of mesothelioma form in the lining of the lungs, which is called pleural mesothelioma and is Dr. Gharagozloo’s specialty.
Dr. Gharagozloo is the Surgeon-in-Chief at the UCF Lake Nona Institute for Advanced Thoracic Surgery in Orlando, Florida. He previously worked at AdventHealth Kissimmee and Florida Hospital Kissimmee.
Dr. Gharagozloo moved to Baylor Scott & White Health in Dallas, Texas. This cancer center is part of the Baylor University health network and has locations across Texas. Dr. Gharagozloo then confirmed to Mesothelioma Guide his return to Central Florida in 2022, when he joined the UCF Lake Nona Medical Center.
His medical career includes working at:
- University of Arizona Banner Medical Center, as chief of thoracic surgery, robotic thoracic surgery and esophageal surgery
- George Washington University Medical Center, as chief of clinical cardiothoracic surgery and clinical professor of surgery
- Professor at George Washington University
- Professor at the University of Central Florida
- Medical Degree from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland
- Residency in Surgery at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota
- Fellowship in Cardiac Surgery at Harvard Medical School in Boston
- Board-certified for thoracic surgery
- Diplomat of the American Board of Thoracic Surgery
- Member of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons, American College of Surgeons, Society of Laparoendoscopic Surgeons, Priestly Society of Surgery and Society of Robotic Surgery
- Awarded “Top Doctor” for thoracic surgery by Washington Magazine in 2010
- Awarded the title of Surgeon of Excellence in Robotic Surgery by the Clinical Robotic Surgery Association in 2015
Get Connected to Dr. Farid Gharagozloo
Dr. Farid Gharagozloo is a highly experienced thoracic surgeon for pleural mesothelioma. He performs extrapleural pneumonectomy primarily when cases are eligible. He also specializes in using robotics for surgical assistance.
Why Choose Dr. Gharagozloo?
- Worked at numerous university-affiliated cancer centers
- Award-winning surgeon with more than one decade of experience
Preference for Extrapleural Pneumonectomy
Surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy and immunotherapy are the tentpoles of mesothelioma treatment. The two surgery options for pleural mesothelioma are extrapleural pneumonectomy and pleurectomy with decortication.
Extrapleural pneumonectomy removes the affected lung. Pleurectomy with decortication does not remove the lung.
When asked about the two, Dr. Gharagozloo prefers performing extrapleural pneumonectomy for mesothelioma. A big reason is due to using robotics technology.
Fighting Infections to Make Surgery Possible
Surgery is the first option considered, but most cases of mesothelioma aren’t eligible for surgery. The disease often spreads too quickly and is too tough to pinpoint for resection.
“The surgeons have been very frustrated with what to do with this disease,” he said. “So the issue with these types of problems is staging the disease appropriately before operating on the patient.
“The operations have very high risk. The big risk is infections. … When you do the surgery, you find there’s a lot more disease than you originally thought.”
One of the infection causes is the empty space in the lung cavity after the affected lung is removed in surgery. Dr. Gharagozloo proposes a solution he uses to avoid infection.
“Fill the chest with viable tissue” he said, noting it can take six months for tissue to naturally fill the void. “Expedite the six months by taking omentum (fatty tissue in the abdominal cavity) and bringing it into the chest. That decreases the risk of infection.”
Interest in Robotics for Surgery
Dr. Gharagozloo is the first mesothelioma surgeon ever to use robotics. He is a proponent of robotics for both minimally invasive diagnostic surgeries and aggressive resections. He believes robotics can help stage mesothelioma and prevent infections.
Dr. Gharagozloo said robots can help for aggressive surgeries. While he removes the lung and focuses on that aspect of a pneumonectomy, the robot can handle removing the pleural lining. This is an innovative approach to surgery.
“If you make small incisions in the chest, it’s not invasive for the patient. The main thing is looking at the chest wall,” he said, noting the tumors spread from the pleura into the chest wall.
Robots can check if the disease has spread in this direction. They have an attached three-dimensional, high-resolution camera to maneuver the tight space. This helps tremendously with diagnosing patients and determining the validity of an aggressive surgery.
“In this case, the huge benefit of robotics is the staging,” he said. “The second benefit is if someone is resectable, then they have decreased bleeding (and risk of infection).”
Dr. Gharagozloo founded the AdventHealth Center for Advanced Thoracic Surgery. He was also part of the hospital’s Global Robotics Institute. As of 2021, he had performed 3,700 robotics operations for a multitude of diseases. In 2013, he performed the first two robotics-assisted surgeries ever for mesothelioma.
“We were one of the first groups in thoracic surgery to use robotics,” he said of AdventHealth. “When you apply it, you open your eyes to new things.”
Connect With Dr. Gharagozloo for Treatment
Dr. Gharagozloo is open to seeing patients at UCF Lake Nona Medical Center. We can help you connect with him and the surgical team.
Karen Ritter, our nurse and patient advocate, is the best resource for mesothelioma patients. Email her at karen@mesotheliomaguide.com or fill out our free Doctor Match form to get your information directly to her. She’ll follow up by contacting you and helping find the perfect match for a specialist.
Sources & Author
- Farid Gharagozloo. UCF College of Medicine. Retrieved from: https://med.ucf.edu/person/farid-gharagozloo/. Accessed: 11/10/2022.
- Dr. Farid Gharagozloo, MD. AdventHealth. Retrieved from: https://cfl.adventhealthcardiovascularinstitute.com/team/farid-gharagozloo. Accessed: 01/19/2022.
