Topic: Where is the best breast cancer center in US?

May 22, 2020 11:33AM berries wrote:

I am so sorry to hear about your partner. There are many options for centers, but the important thing is to go to an NCI-designated system. She will receive access to the most clinical trials and I do believe receive the best care with the most knowledgeable staff. Here is a list: https://www.cancer.gov/research/infrastructure/can...

Did they do a biopsy on the lung masses? Make sure they do as the receptors may have changed, which will inform her treatment.

University of Colorado Cancer Center
Aurora, Colorado
Comprehensive Cancer Center

I hope this helps and she will get through this! She is lucky to have a partner like you.

May 22, 2020 11:51AM berries wrote:

I don't work in healthcare, but my husband is a physician. Always always recommend an NCI-designated center. There are only a few of them around the country. Glad you have an appointment at UC Health.

This waiting part is the absolute worst part of it. I remember it well and I also remember how many people told me that at first. We lived in California (only for a few weeks) at first when I was diagnosed, then moved to Chicago to get treated here because we thought being around family was most important. I totally understand the pain and fear you are going through, but stick close to family and somewhere familiar.

See what they say at her appointment next week, but l also come prepared with questions and a second-opinion lined up. You can make an appointment at Dana Farber or Mayo or even Johns Hopkins as a back-up. Second opinions are important!

Do you know if she was hormone positive in 2007/2017? There are many treatment options available and HER2+ immunotherapy options as well!

Please keep us posted. Keeping you both in my heart and sending you strength.

May 22, 2020 01:10PM BevJen wrote:

I'd like to offer two other hospitals to put into the mix -- MD Anderson in Houston and Northwestern University Hospital in Chicago. What you might want to do for a consult with all of this travel craziness is to reach out to a particular doctor or group at a given hospital and see if they are doing video consults -- that way, you could send her records and possibly even copies of her scans (they should give you the slides on disk for free) to a particular doctor.

MDAnderson is generally rated as the best cancer hospital in the world. U.S. News also ranks best cancer hospitals in the US, and MDA is at the top of their list. Dana Farber, Hopkins, Northwestern, Mayo Clinic are all on that list as well.

To find a particular doctor to seek out an opinion from, try googling the specifics of her cancer (e.g., metastatic estrogen positive cancer) and you should come up with some articles about it. The co-authors are usually very solid people with whom to have a second opinion.

Best of luck with this.

May 22, 2020 02:55PM BevJen wrote:

Another plus for Northwestern -- happy to hear that Berries is in their corner. I have consulted with two docs there -- Dr. Lewandoski for local liver treatment and recently, Dr. Cristofanilli as a second opinion on possible progression and treatment change. I wish I could move to Chicago -- I like them all that much, and I've never set foot in the hospital!!!

May 22, 2020 03:29PM bcincolorado wrote:

I am in Colorado Springs and in the University system here and they have wonderful care down here I know. My husband had transplant at University and we totally trust them and he had the best of care for many years (his was in 2005 and still doing ok and they follow him all the time). Best wishes.

May 22, 2020 04:02PM farmerlucy wrote:

I'm sorry to hear your partner is dealing with this again. I long ago decided I would go to an NIH hospital if I have to deal with this again. And you can bet your bottom dollar I’ll stick with these boards. My docs don’t have the time to research advances,like the 100K + folks from around the world that come to this site, do. Best wishes.

May 22, 2020 05:51PM Beesy_The_Other_One wrote:

cjmm2020, I live in Houston, am treated at MD Anderson and recommend it highly. I got to know a young lady here on the BCO who is 30 years old, was pregnant when we met and has TNBC. When Coronavirus started sweeping the nation, I can't say MD Anderson dealt with her very well, because they literally could not deal with a video conference and just canceled two appointments on her, and now she cannot travel with an infant and a compromised immune system. A friend who works at MD Anderson and knows about this young lady wanting to get a second opinion wrote me just today saying that "virtual visits are ramping up and will be a standard of care going forward." Honestly, it shouldn't have taken a pandemic to make this a possibility for men and women with cancer.

May 22, 2020 07:00PM dizzywombat wrote:

I’ll also recommend MD Anderson. I started with them as a second opinion and was so impressed with how comprehensive and thorough they were that they’re now my primary team. I’m not in Houston, and haven’t had any issues with telemed visits during COVID, so hopefully they’re figuring that out for new patients as well. It’s been nice to not have to drive in for office visits when I can just do them virtually

Wishing you and your partner the best during this!

May 26, 2020 02:31PM cjmm2020 wrote:

We live in CO and when I called MD Anderson, they told me they had affiliate/satellite clinics in Loveland and Greeley. These do not show up as NCI-designated. What are your thoughts on level of care at a Banner MD Anderson center in CO versus getting ourselves to Houston?

Jun 7, 2020 06:20PM buttonsmachine wrote:

cjmm2020, I have never tried a satellite clinic, so I can't really say anything conclusively. However, i did look into a different satellite location for MD Anderson once, and I found that the doctors (although probably perfectly fine) did not treat exclusively breast cancer patients. Finding that out might be a good place to start, and you can decide whether that kind of expertise is important to you. Best wishes to you.