Hello everyone

Which one is better for head and neck cancer?
Especially if the neck lymph nodes are involved
and the patient is young(30 years)

Thank you very much

They are institutions of equal quality. I would be pleased to be treated at either location and have total confidence in the treatment plans they developed for me. If you are going to stay for a couple of months in a foreign city without a relative or friends home to stay in, Houston is way cheaper to exist in. If this is not importanat to you, New York has more going on if you want ot get out (Especially in the first 3 weeks when the full effects of treatment haven't hit you yet.) If it was still freezing in NY, I'd opt for the sunny winters and mild temps of Houston. ( I went through treatments over a Xmas there). But when it comes to hard core facts, people, equipment, and capabilities you are choosing between the two finest cancer facilities in the world.

Brian is the MDA guide, I can help you with info on MSKCC. If you have and questons, email or private message me. Brian makes a very accurate point about $$$, MDA will be easier on the wallet for the same treatment options.

Glenn
NY Metro area

Having seen the H&N Drs at both institutions I can tell from personal experience that they are quite similar on the surface.

I choose MSKCC for several reasons, and am still very glad that I did. To this day, I speak to the "team" every few days and the genuine compassion, caring and professionalism is unparralleled.

It may come down to pure logistics. Is cost of living a major concern? Are insurance issues a concern? Travel? Access? Climate? Lot's of things to consider.

A quite "normal" apartment near MSKCC will run about $ 4000 to $ 6000 a month, and for MD Anderson a nice house near the campus can be rented for $ 1400, (as an illustration of the difference) and both institutions offer some limited housing assistance, etc through social services.

Other factors are stage, location and type of cancer, plus planned treatment, (ie: surgery first, etc).

Good luck with the decision. This site is a true LIFE SAVING RESOURCE for the patient and those that care for him (or her).

Feel free to email me for personal references, ideas, candid recommendations and resource lists for either location.

Just wanted to wish you and whoever you are checking for, good luck with their treatment. It's a hard decision to make. I will be thinking of you.

PS Michael,

Happy to see you back. How are you doing?


Jerry

Michael. Nice to see you back. I have deleted your email from your post (it is still on the little index card next to your screen name). The reason for this is there are people that search boards like ours with programs designed to scan for email addresses and copy them. These are then sold to spammers, and you know what kind of pain in the butt that can be. Their programs cannot go to a second link (like the index card) to pull your email address.

I do know many of the doctors at both institutions and OCF