The U.S. News and World Report has issued its regular list of “top hospitals” around the nation for 2011/12. The true value of these lists is always a matter for much discussion, since they are based on surveys of the opinions of somewhat less than 10,000 specialists and on data from nearly 5,000 hospitals that includes death rates, patient safety, and hospital reputation.
Having said that, it doesn’t hurt the average prostate cancer patient to be aware of which hospitals have the highest rankings in two key areas: urology and cancer.
On the other hand, don’t treat these lists as some forms of absolute gospel truth because the care you will get as an individual will depend, not on the institution you go to, but on the skill, expertise, and degree of focus of the physicians that you see
So, with that proviso, …
The top 10 US hospitals for urology are listed as follows:
- Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, MD
- The Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH
- The Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN
- Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA
- Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY
- UCSF Medical Center, San Francisco, CA
- New York-Presbyterian University Hospital of Columbia and Cornell, New York, NY
- Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC
- Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN
- University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
For the complete list of rankings of hospitals in urology, just click here.
The top 10 list of hospitals for cancer are listed below:
- University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
- Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY
- Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, MD
- The Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN
- Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women’s Cancer Center, Boston, MA
- University of Washington Medical Center, Seattle, WA
- Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA
- UCSF Medical Center, San Francisco, CA
- The Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH
- Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA
For the complete list of rankings of hospitals in cancer, just click here.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: hospitals, top |
THE "NEW" PROSTATE CANCER INFOLINK 
Well, this list is indeed comforting (and timely). I have a consultation scheduled for next week at M. D. Anderson in Houston for prostate cancer treatment. I’m leaning toward proton therapy (PSA 6.8, GS 6, T1c).
Cleveland Clinic is amazing. I have an excellent urologist and oncologist. I luckily got assigned to them. They have excellent nurses and techs. I’ve had no negative interaction with any CC people.
I live in Toledo (120 miles from Cleveland). Luckily one of the clinics I I can go to is half way in between. I’d drive to Cleveland for every treatment if I had to do so.
They’re very good at instructions, information and answering questions.
Love all those people.
Do you mind me asking the name of your urologist, Im thinking of going to cleveland clinic for prostate surgery
Dear David:
I do not have a urologist and I don’t have prostate cancer. However, I can tell you there are several excellent prostate cancer surgeons at the Cleveland Clinic.
I have prostate cancer, stage IV. I am undergoing hormone therapy now and ams scheduled for radiation therapy this summer.
Everything is good for now but I would like to seek a second opinion at your hospital, John Hopkins Cancer Clinic. How do qualify to start my queries going?
Best regards.
George Y. Buktaw
Dear Mr. Buklaw:
If you want to see a prostate cancer specialist at Johns Hopkins, you should look at this link and then call 410 955 8964. All initial evaluations at Johns Hopkins are conducted by telemedicine at present, but the person you speak to will walk you through what you need to do.
Please understand that The “New” Prostate Cancer InfoLink is not associated in any way with Johns Hopkins or their prostate cancer clinic.
I am 40 years old I am suspecting I have prostate cancer
Dear Luyanda:
So why do you suspect that you have prostate cancer and where do you live?
All you really need to do is go to see a good urologist who can help to evaluate your condition.
It has to be said that prostate cancer is relatively unusual in men of 40 years of age.
I am 63 and just had my 4KScore test. The results tell me I have 86% chance of prostate cancer. My PSA # was 11.5. These #’s sound pretty bad to me. My local urologist has me scheduled for an MRI and biopsy local in eastern NC to confirm I have Prostate Cancer. I’d appreciate recommendations of where to go go 2nd opinion and probable treatment.
Joe:
So it does seem likely that you have localized prostate cancer, but what needs to be done about this will depend a lot on the results of the biopsy. The MRI scan will allow the urologist to do a type pf biopsy called an MRI/TRUS fusion biopsy that will optimize the chances that he or she can take samples of any tissue that is or looks as though it might be cancerous.
If I was wearing your shoes, I would go to see someone at Duke Medical in Raleigh/Durham (e.g., Dr. Judd Moul) who has something like 30+ years of experience in diagnosing and treating men like you and who will clearly explain all of your possible options to you. You could also have several different possible types of treatment there, depending on the details of your diagnosis.
My husband was just dx with prostate cancer. PSA was 7.4 … staged as intermediate level 2a… it is localized to prostate only. Is there a difference in longevity between surgery or radiation? We are told they are the same. We are aware of side effects of each.
Thank you
Julie Faria
Dear Julie:
There is no demonstrably significant difference between the “average” overall survival times of men undergoing surgery or radiation therapy for men with truly localized prostate cancer. The important things are: (a) the skill and experience of the physician treating your husband; (b) the type of radiation therapy being used (if he was to have radiation therapy); and (c) his age — because surgery on men over 70 comes with a more significant risk for loss of erectile/sexual function and longer time to recovery of good urinary function.
The other thing that MAY be important in your husband’s case (if, as you say, he has clinical stage T2a disease) is whether he might be a good candidate for some type of focal therapy, in which only a portion of the prostate is treated as opposed to the entire prostate. You might want to consider getting a second opinion from a clinician who really specializes in the treatment of localized prostate cancer before coming to any decisions.
We have Kaiser Permanente
Will cover prostate cancer treatment?
We live in Moorpark California
We are desperate
Dear Dean:
As far as I am aware, Kaiser Permanente customarily covers appropriate forms of care for prostate cancer, and has done so for years. In relevant cases they will also normally cover second opinions from specialists in the management of prostate cancer at major cancer centers.
My grandfather (age 80) is diagnosed with prostate cancer and is currently undergoing hormone therapy. The cancer is spread to his lymph nodes and in smaller extent to the bones. Is there a difference in the type of hormones used for the therapy (what are the most advanced hormones available)?
We are also considering radiation therapy, since surgery will be high risk at his age. What are the risks linked to radiation therapy? Not sure if hormone therapy alone will be sufficient..
The precise, appropriate treatment for a man diagnosed with metastatic prostate cancer to bone depends on a variety of factors. Depending on his life expectancy based on other factors, he might need no additional treatment or he might need a more complex treatment regimen, possibly including radiation therapy and additional forms of hormone therapy. But what will be most important for your grandfather is a careful assessment by a medical oncologist with significant experience and expertise in the management of men with metastatic prostate cancer.
Hi,
I recently had a full body MRI that came back with a 6 mm PI-RADS 4 lesion. My baseline PSA is 0.6 ng/mL (past several years) and my current PSA level is 0.52. I know I need to get a biopsy, but wondering if I should start my care at a major cancer treatment center? Your thoughts?
Mike:
The information you have provided above is very confusing. Were you previously treated for localized prostate cancer? Why did anyone think you needed a whole body MRI if your PSA has been stable at less than 1 ng/ml for years? Where is this supposed PI-RADs 4 lesion?
I can’t tell you whether you “need” to go to a major cancer center or not, but you certainly would be wise to be evaluated by someone who is a real specialist in the diagnosis and management of prostate cancer before you come to any conclusions about what you need to do next.
I have recently been diagnosed with intermediate-risk prostate cancer. I am trying to weed through all the vast information to come to a decision on how to treat this. I am very visual. Is there accurate data on prostatectomy vs various radiation or proton therapy as relates to cure rate, erectile dysfunction, incontinance, recurrence, etc. OR, at the very lease, accurate information on each of these therapies even if not comparing. Where do you go for this and who do you trust? Thank you,
Scott
Dear Scott:
The question you are asking is a VERY complicated one and there is NO good answer for the individual patient! The spectrum of complicating factors means that any trial that could produce meaningful results would take at least 10 years to complete and would require thousands of patients … but almost no patient in the USA would allow himself to be randomized to such a trial anyway!
For someone like you, THE most critical issues are: (a) which types of treatment am I willing to consider (because there are now many more than the three you mention depending on the details of your diagnosis); (b) which team of clinicians would I want to have the procedure done by (based on their expertise and experience); and (c) what are the real or potential side effects of treatment that I am most concerned by.
The bottom line is that for someone with intermediate-risk prostate cancer, well-implemented surgery and well-implemented, whole-gland radiation therapy (of any type) has a very high probability of curing the prostate cancer. Surgery has a very high probability of short-term incontinence and some risk for long-term incontinence (albeit of lesser degree). Surgery also has a high probability of erectile dysfunction (by which I mean that there is something like an 80% probability that a man will never recover the same degree of erectile function that he had before the procedure). By comparison, the highest risk for erectile dysfunction with radiation therapy is over the long-term and it can be hard to know to what extent that is age-related as opposed to treatment-related. Radiation therapy also is associated with risk for other side effects such as radiation burns outside the area of the prostate itself (but this is a LOT less common than it used to be). There are NO really good data to suggest that proton beam radiation therapy is “better” in terms of outcomes and side effects than standard forms of radiation therapy — especially now that radiation therapy can be completed over a matter of a week or so using highly directed stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT).
You should also appreciate that — in a case like yours — some form of “focal” therapy may be possible, in which only a portion of the prostate needs to be treated. This can be done in a whole variety of different ways. Whether your insurance carrier would cover the costs of such treatment is something you would need to find out about!
If you were to join our social network and provide us with a lot more specific data about your diagnosis and other information, we might be able to provide you with some more detailed guidance, but there are NO simple answers to the question you are asking.