Hello. I just found out two days ago that my father was diagnosed with tongue cancer. He is 56 six years old. This is very frightening for our family, especially since he lost two older brothers and two cousins in their 50's due to cancer. I am trying to find out where the best doctors are. Given our family history, we know time is not on our side and don't want to take chances with mediocre physicians. Does anyone know how I can get a listing of great doctors specializing in tongue cancer?

There are great doctors all over the US. But if you want an opinion from someone who does an annual survey of the best multidisciplinary centers in the US, US NEWS magazine picks Memorial Sloan Kettering in NY, and MD Anderson in Houston, TX as the top head and neck cancer centers consistently. U.S. News is publishing its 13th annual edition of "America's Best Hospitals." They rank 205 top medical centers, winnowed from 6,045 overall, in 17 specialties. This does not mean they are the only places you should consider, but this annual listing is well respected. I personally am not in favor of picking any doctor outside of a multidisciplinary center such as these. (I'm going to get a ton of negative mail for this comment.) But there is some logic here. The best results usually come from a group of physicians of different disciplines (radiation, surgery, chemotherapy, etc.) who work as a team to produce the best outcome given the stage of the disease. A team such as this also chooses TOGETHER, the best treatment plan. A single doctor, even a great oncologist or a great head and neck surgeon, is only approaching the disease from one perspective and with (usually) one set of skills. This limits possibilities in my opinion, and sometimes results in singular treatment approaches such as surgery only. This is a case of " If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail." Also large cancer centers like MDACC or MSK have the latest clinical trials going on within their institution, which may benefit a patient. These are not available in many other locations. Lastly, these kinds of institutions have strict criteria for staff, and they attract the best of the best, since they have extraordinary facilities and the opportunity to work with leaders in the field. There are many facilities listed on our sites resources page that you can review on the web. Here is the link to the Best Hospitals http://www.usnews.com/usnews/nycu/health/hosptl/rankings/specihqcanc.htm

Brian,

Forget the negative mail for your comment about multidisciplinary centers. Here is a POSITIVE one. I totally agree with you. My daughter did not go to one of these centers. In retrospect, she should have.

She has a wonderful surgeon and we have been pleased with the other docs most of the time, BUT there are times when I'm not even sure which doctor to call when she has a problem. And she has had several problems, including the candida problem going on right now. She has not improved much and I'm not sure which doc is best equipped to deal with this. If she was being treated at a center, there would be one phone call and it would be handled.

She also would not have had a delay in starting her RAD treatments if there had been coordination with all the docs. I personally would have liked to have had a discussion with all the docs at one time when trying to plan her treatment. You would get all the pros and cons at one time, instead of piecemeal.

Basically, I feel her surgery and RAD has been top-notch, but she would probably not have had to suffer as much from all the extra problems she has had because the infection, candida, etc. would have been caught and treated sooner.

By the way, if anyone has has candida in their throat or esophagus, I would like to hear from them as we are still fighting this and right now, we are not winning. I've researched it on the web, but I need some personal insight from someone who has been there. How long did it take to get it cleared up? What med was used, Diflucan? When did the nausea and vomiting go away? I am calling the doc today, but always appreciate info from anyway who has been in the same shoes.

Thanks,

Rosemary

One of the things that I liked about the multidisciplinary approach at M.D. Anderson is that even within the radiation oncology specialty alone, before my treatment began, an entire board of radiation oncologists met, examined me individually ( each sticking his darn thumb down my throat ), and as a group looked at CT scan results, etc. and discussed what would be the best treatment tailored to my individual needs. To have this very experienced group of head and neck radiation oncologists putting their collective heads together to determine the best treatment for me...gave me a lot of confidence.

Danny G.

Rosie,
John has had thrush since the middle of his radiation treatment ( early or mid July). We have battled it with everything. We started with Nystatin. It got worse and he took diflucan. It never completely went away and we started a third med a lozenger which dissolved in his mouth. I can't remember the name but I will get it. It is now January and it is almost gone. I am sure it went down his throat when it was at its worst. The diflucan was the most powerful drug we used. Our dentist said that it was related to the lack of saliva as well as the radiation and would begin to resolve when John's saliva became more normal. We tried a home cure that seemed to help but run it by your doctor before doing it. John would add just a teaspoon of vinegar (white) to a cup of water and swish it through his mouth. Thrush does not like an acid base. He did not swallow this or get it to the back of his throat.

The nausea that John had was controlled by zofran. He was nausea free about one month after his last radiation.

Meredith

I am also in KS. There is Dr. Tsue at KU medical center. He is ENT surgeon and an oncologist. Graduated from John Hopkins. I found him after I already had my surgery.

Meredith,

Thank you for the info. I appreciate it. We are seeing the doc again tomorrow. There is one more thing they want to check before assuming her nausea and vomiting is all just from the thrush. If it was just nausea and not vomiting, I wouldn't worry so much. But she can hardly keep any food down at all. She has lost about 12 lbs. in the last 1 1/2 weeks. She does use Zofran and it helps some, but not enough.

Kugrad,

Sorry I can't help with your question. My brother lives in KS, but that's about all I know about the state! Good luck in your quest.

Rosemary

Thank you for your advice. I went to the MD Anderson website and gave the phone number to my mother. She called and felt much more able to understand how the battle against cancer begins. We feel somewhat empowered now that we have viable options. And thanks for the name of a local doctor. I had heard that KU Med was the best local facility. So having a name to go with it is comforting.