Best hospital

[Maddielolo]

What are the top hospitals for stage iv surgery/treatment? Trying to identify the best team I possibly can. Would prefer on west coast or northeast. Thank you in advance.

[CRguy]

Welcome to the forum.

I would suggest that you supply more specific information, so that others here might give more useful replies.

Is this an initial Stage IV diagnosis or a recurrence ?
Have you already had prior treatments and / or surgeries ?
What is the exact diagnosis : colon, rectosigmoid, low rectal, single met, multiple mets, liver, lung, both ???? ( Stage IV A or IV B ? )

There is a wealth of information here and to prevent you from having to read thousands of posts !!!!! (BTDT ) ...... the more info you could provide, will yield better answers to your questions. Someone's reply for having a single lung met treated on the west coast ( me ) may not apply to you if you have multiple liver mets and are considering surgeries or HAI on the east coast ...... just as one example.

Please give us more info and ask many more questions as you learn more here !

Best wishes,
CRguy

[juliej]

I agree with CRguy. The "best" hospital for you depends on your precise diagnosis, which treatments and/or surgeries you've had so far, and where your mets are located. Then we can give you more targeted advice.

[andy21]

I would suggest MSKCC in New York or UCSF on West Coast:
Both have staff to take care of most types of CC.

http://health.usnews.com/best-hospitals/rankings/cancer

[orcasres]

The Seattle Cancer Care Alliance is excellent for most colon cancer needs, but it would be helpful to get more information. Lois

[Maddielolo]

Thx and good points. So, 9cm mass in right colon and about a dozen liver mets ( we think). Nothing in lungs or elsewhere. Ct Biopsy tomorrow. Female, 33, young infant and husband. 6 weeks after giving birth started to get mild cramp on right side. Sort of felt something sometimes I thought. No other symptoms. Told doc about cramp so got ultrasound. Two days later CT. And an hour later results. No blood, no change in bowel, no anemia. Healthy, good diet, no family history.

Now trying out where to start... I'll fill in details after biopsy.

[radnyc]

Hey there, you are young, in fairly good health and strong. My opinion is you need to hit this hard now when you can handle the treatments. There are a handful of excellent hospitals that treat advanced cancer around the country, but because of your liver involvement you should seriously look into MSKCC and HAI. Dr. Kemeny and her group have helped many with very similar presentations, don't wait too long. Good luck and keep us posted.

Al

[Nickmark59]

UPMC Presby and Monitifiore in Pittsburgh Dr. Wolfgang Schraut one of the best Colon surgeons in area

[Bob_Weiss]

When I read ratings of the best USA cancer hospitals, MD Anderson(Texas) and Memorial Hospital(NYC) seem to always be on top. However, it depends on the type of treatment you will be receiving, and your specific CRC diagnosis. If you have a common type of CRC with no major complications, you will probably receive the standard treatment for your condition, which should be the same for all high-quality hospitals and there are many around the country.

[Deb m]

I can only tell you that we travel to Md Anderson cancer center in Huston, and we receive excellent care there. My husbands case was complicated, but I guess never terminal. If he were to be terminal, we would still go their. I have so much confidence in his doctors there. Your treated like a person, not a satistic, and the care is very personalized and based on studies and research done their. That being said, their are also other major cancer centers in the country that are excellent as well. I think some of these centers share their research and study results.

Best of luck to you,

deb m

[nkoske]

Any of these places would be solid choices

http://www.nccn.org/members/network.asp

[sdp]

If it is a liver surgery I hear the following drs ( in usa) are amongst the best,

Dr yuman fong - MSKCC

Dr Steve Curley - md Anderson

Dr dave Geller - UPMC

Dr H petrowsky - UCLA

..........
No actual experience with them bt this is what I found in my research as I got my liver resection done in Germany - dr hans schlitt.

You can search them and about them on the web - send them ur scans / email etc and decide for yourself

[Maddielolo]

Thank you all so much. This is a good start. One question: assuming on a standard tissue diagnosis, is this the type of thing where I can start chemo almost anywhere (stanford, ucsf, ohsu, Hutch) while I seek out opinions on liver mets, surgeries, etc with doctors/hospitals mentioned (Sloan, ucla, etc)? Want to hit this hard from the start.

[Maddielolo]

And other question is when so people think about surgery on larger colon mass? When mets small enough to due liver surgery? Or if large mass causes more problems? Or would someone consider going in for just the right colon mass now?

[Rob in PA]

If you have no immediate issues with blockage, they will probably recommend chemo first to try and shrink the tumors. Hope would be that liver is stable/shrunk and they can take out primary (colon) and then do liver at a later date. Typically will not do surgery on liver unless that is the only trouble spot (typically).

My best to you.

...PS. I'll throw my 2 cents in and give props to UPMC Shadyside in Pittsburgh. Dr. Matt Holtzman for liver.

Rob