Need info please:Best physician/facility for breats ca with mets

[Jan]

Hi,
This request is not for me, but, for a patient in the neuro unit I work in. She was dx with breast ca in 2003 and treated. Admitted to Neuro with difficulty ambulating. CT and MRI show mets to brain and bilateral lungs. She is 49. We are in Ohio. I would like to pass along info as to the best physician/facility for treatment. I don't believe they are able to do a search at this time as they are upset as expected.

I would appreciate any information!

Thank You, Jan

[Joe]

I would highly recommend Dr. Eric Winer of Dana Farber, Boston who has done much work in these areas. Also the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center is a NCI designated cancer center:

http://www.osuccc.osu.edu/

Regards
Joe

[Becky]

Dear Jan

Also remember the Cleveland Clinic as well.

Kind regards

Becky

[astrid]

Rankings for best Cancer centers in the country by US News:

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/health/best-hospitals/rankings/specihqcanc.htm

[HavahJ]

Cleveland Clinic has great treatments - as good as Mayo!

[Bev]

Jan, thanks for being such an angel. BB

[panicked911]

Can't say enough about memorial sloan kettering in new York City - They have been wonderful - if you need specific docs - contact me directly.

Susanne

[kim]

Not sure where you are in Ohio. I am in SW OH and have a really great doc saw about 7 docs between here and columbus, he was the only one willing to give me herceptin 2 1/2 years ago. Let me know if you would like his name.
Kim

[Jan]

Thank You for the replies to my post!

You are all in my prayers, Jan

[Vi Schorpp]

The Cleveland Clinic has been treating me since 2003...My oncologist is Dr. Dergham and I'm very pleased with him, and with the Clinic.

[dalmester]

thank you for the feedback to Jan. I am the patient she was refering to. This is the last week of my 15 days of full brain radiation and will be going to Ann Arbor to U of M on Aug. !st to meet with Dr. Lipman. Also changing my diet avoiding all dairy and meat.

[mamacze]

Dr. Eric Winer from Dana Farber presented the most cutting edge research results for Her2 breast cancer mets to the brain at ASCO in Atlanta this year. (ie Tykerb)..Joe mentioned his name...I would at least get a second opinion from him...the expense in travel is nothing compared to the benefit of knowing you are hearing from one of the best...Good Luck, stay with us and let us know how you make out.
Love Kim from CT

[herroon]

The "patient" is my sister. I love you and consider you my best friend. I want you to be able to do anything and everthing you possibly can and so does my family (the boys are amazed that you have a forum that comes up on google :)). I looked at the website that listed the best cancer hospitals and found Houston to be the 2nd best. I will go with you if you would consider that option; my work is even considering the possiblity of me working remotely so I could work out of Houston. Does anyone have experience with that hospital?

[dilly]

I'm at Dallas Baylor for adjuctive treatment. But if I have a recurrance, I'll be all over MD Anderson. They have some research programs available only there. Be sure to ask about lapatinib and avistin trials. Women are going NED. They also do research with EGFs. Who are the best doctor's there? Does anybody know?

Dilly

[Jan]

Dilly,
What does NED and EGF stand for?
Thanks, Jan

[herroon]

From what I found on the internet, NED means "no evidence of disease" and EGF is "Epideral Growth Therapy". They have found there is a big relationship between EGF and EGF-R (which is it's receptor) and cancer; the receptor has been found in many tumors. They have been testing an EGF-vaccine that is supposed to attack EGF (http://www.scf.sld.cu/pdf/premios/2004/cim.pdf).

[dilly]

Thanks for helping me clarify my acronyms.

[Lani]

couldn't get your link to work. Any ideas of how to make it function?
Lani

[herroon]

For some reason the link picked up the ")" at the end of it. Try this one: http://www.scf.sld.cu/pdf/premios/2004/cim.pdf (http://www.scf.sld.cu/pdf/premios/2004/cim.pdf))

[herroon]

This is strange, I can no longer pull that website up even when I attempt to open it through Google as I did to begin with. The document had many medical terms which made it hard to read. I found an article that was much easier to read dated 8/2/04: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=11530

[Unregistered]

just returned from Ann Arbor today, very encouraging visit. Dr. Mark Lippman
comes with very impressive cridentials. Said that there are several chemos that we can go with and that different docs would have their own choices to go with but he felt that at this time we stay on the herceptin and do this along with taxotere with x-rays to monitor the progess and if it is thought that taxotere isn't doing the job we go to another. We felt very confident in the doctor and I am going to start treatment here at my oncologist hopefully on Thursday. To my sis, I love you too!!!!!

[Unregistered]

went to Ann Arbor today for a 2nd opinion with Dr. Mark Lippman who has great credentials in the field of breast cancer. He feels that I should remain on Herceptin and start Taxotere treatments. With regular x-rays to see what kind of progress is being made he said that if this treatment doesn't work we can try others. He said that I am amoung a large group that he has treated with Her2/estrogen- and that he doesn't feel that it is hopeless. I am taking this recommendation back to my oncologist so that I can be treated close to home. Very confident with my desision.