dsmith Posted June 9, 2011 Share Posted June 9, 2011 My brother's MIL was just diagnosed with either stage 2 or stage 3 pancreatic cancer. They are unsure of the best hospital/treatment center/doctors in our area, so I thought I would ask here. Also, any prayers would be appreciated. She is just the sweetest lady. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OLG Posted June 9, 2011 Share Posted June 9, 2011 Sloane Kettering is excellent! (NYC) Two friends have been there in the past six months. Superb surgeons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom26 Posted June 9, 2011 Share Posted June 9, 2011 (edited) Hospital of the University of pa (HUP) in Philly-My mom was treated here for uterine ca and had a good experience(She is cancer free 13 yrs later :) Fox Chase cancer center-Philly suburbs Sorry to hear about your brother's MIL though... Edited June 10, 2011 by mom26 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rlugbill Posted June 9, 2011 Share Posted June 9, 2011 My sympathies. As I am sure you know, pancreatic cancer is very deadly. One of the worst types. There is an unconventional doctor in New York who has very good results with pancreatic cancer among patients who comply with a rigorous, unconventional treatment program. I believe his name is Gonzalez. You are doing the right thing in really researching this. Pancreatic cancer is a tough one. I wish you all the best. Blessings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wheres Toto Posted June 9, 2011 Share Posted June 9, 2011 Sloane Kettering is excellent! (NYC) Two friends have been there in the past six months. Superb surgeons. :iagree: Memorial Sloan Kettering is considered one of the best. There are offices in NYC and West Orange, NJ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsmith Posted June 10, 2011 Author Share Posted June 10, 2011 Thanks for the replies. Sloan Kettering is the first one that came to mind. I don't think you can live in this area without thinking of them. I will check out the other recs. I'm just so sad to hear this news. The only symptom she had was unexplained weight loss. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitestavern Posted June 10, 2011 Share Posted June 10, 2011 Yale New Haven Hospital has recently opened up a state of the art cancer center, Smilow. It's a large, free standing hospital in New Haven. Dh did some work for them and was very impressed with everything he saw/heard. Not sure if it's more convenient to go to CT (I also agree with Sloan reccs). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommyfaithe Posted June 10, 2011 Share Posted June 10, 2011 Sloane Kettering is excellent! (NYC) Two friends have been there in the past six months. Superb surgeons. :iagree: if you can get her to Sloans...I would. Faithe Ps...prayers for a thorough and quick recovery. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Perry Posted June 10, 2011 Share Posted June 10, 2011 There is an unconventional doctor in New York who has very good results with pancreatic cancer among patients who comply with a rigorous, unconventional treatment program. I believe his name is Gonzalez. The National Cancer Institute has a page about him. Have any clinical trials (research studies with people) of the Gonzalez regimen been conducted? Nicholas Gonzalez, a New York physician, first studied his regimen in 11 patients who had advanced pancreatic cancer. In 1993, he reported selected results of the study to the National Cancer Institute (NCI). Patients treated with the Gonzalez regimen lived a median of 17 months, which is longer than usual for patients with this disease. Most patients with advanced pancreatic cancer live less than a year. Because of the small number of patients in the study, and for other reasons, the NCI and the Office of Alternative Medicine (OAM) decided that the results were not clear and prospective studies were encouraged. In prospective studies, patients are followed forward in time. The NCI and the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) sponsored a second study with a much larger number of patients. This was a 7-year clinical study that included patients who had stage II, stage III, or stage IV pancreatic cancer that could not be removed by surgery. In this study, one group of patients followed the Gonzalez regimen while another group was given standard treatment (chemotherapy). Results in the two groups were compared to see if the Gonzalez regimen works better than the standard treatment and if it has bad side effects. Results of the study were reported in the peer-reviewed Journal of Clinical Oncology in August 2009. Patients treated with standard chemotherapy survived a median of 14 months and patients treated with the Gonzalez regimen survived a median of 4.3 months. Patients treated with chemotherapy reported a better quality of life than those treated with the Gonzalez regimen. Dr. Gonzalez published comments on his Web site. And Respectful Insolence has a post about him:The Gonzalez protocol: Worse than useless for pancreatic cancer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scrappyhappymama Posted June 10, 2011 Share Posted June 10, 2011 I'm so sorry. I am not from the East Coast, so I don't have any recommendations to offer regarding the best treatment facilities. But, I would highly recommend that whatever prognosis your friend receives, she look for more than one opinion. The treatment options vary greatly, and because of the deadliness of the disease, doctors vary in how aggressively they treat it. A dear friend of our family was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and went to a well regarded academic hospital for surgery. They opened her up, determined the cancer was too far gone and inoperable, closed her back up without removing anything, and told her she had less than 2 months to live. She sought another opinion at the City of Hope in LA, and the doctors there decided to do a radical surgery which included removing the pancreas, stomach, part of the small intestine and a few other organs. Now, eight years later, she continues to be a pancreatic cancer survivor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DB in NJ Posted June 10, 2011 Share Posted June 10, 2011 I would call to find out which of the major cancer treatment places specialize or have experts in treating pancreatic cancer. In the South Jersey/Philly area, I'd recommend Abramson Cancer Center (offices at HUP and Penn Presbyterian) or Fox Chase Cancer Center. SK in New York has already been mentioned. I know that Johns Hopkins in Baltimore does a lot of work with pancreatic disease, but I'm not sure if they have cancer treatment down there or not. They are the 1st place I think of when I hear of pancrease issues though. Sorry to hear the news....I pray she gets the help she needs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SonshineLearner Posted June 10, 2011 Share Posted June 10, 2011 Cancer Center Treatment Centers of America What I would be looking for more than even just this spot, is a place that does metronomic chemotherapy. (It's chemo given in smaller amounts, more often) My mom has done really well with this, and it just kinda "smashes" the cancer cells before they get the chance to regrow... and instead of giving so much chemo at one time.. which kills more good with the bad... Anyway, my couple of thoughts... Also, my mom cut out all sugars from her diet, except for to chemo day... (Mondays for 24 hrs) There are great books out there, too, if she's interested... Sorry :( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amo_mea_filiis. Posted June 10, 2011 Share Posted June 10, 2011 My stepmother and I did a ton of reseach after my father's pancreatic problem scare. He would not have gone to Sloan Kettering because of a personal experience. Johns Hopkins Pancreatic center seems to be leading the research that all other places are following. Since JH didn't take my father's insurance, we found another center. NY Presbyterian has a pancreatic center. One of our determining factors was that my father may have needed the whipple procedure. The recovery for this greatly depend on the volume of surgeries. High volume as per Johns Hopkins is at least 20 per year. NYP's Drs each perform an average of 100 per year. My father does not have pancreatic cancer, so his experience is a little different, but so far he's happy with them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoPlaceLikeHome Posted June 10, 2011 Share Posted June 10, 2011 I would go to John Hopkins in Baltimore, MD which is really not much farther than PA since it is the best place in the world for pancreatic cancer and offers the pancreatic cancer vaccine for those who meet the criteria which has been studied for 10 years and has made some patients cancer free. I can get contact info. PM me. If John Hopkins is an option, then I would only go there IMHO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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