Has anyone been treated for Oral Cancer at any Cancer Treatment Centers of America Hospitals? I'm currently scheduled for a biopsi on my tongue next week. This could be my second round in dealing with tongue cancer.

Here is a list of the top treatment facilities in the US. The place you have mentioned is not on the list of top centers. One thing that many people dont know is just because a place has "Cancer Center" in its name doesnt mean it really is one of the best places to be treated. Most members have been treated at the centers on this list. The names I hear most often around here are Moffitt, Johns Hopkins, Sloan-Kettering, and MD Anderson.

With recurrences you will want to be treated at a TOP cancer center (comprehensive cancer center or CCC). It can be especially important to get treated quickly and by the best doctors. Dont let location choose your fate. Many of the top CCC's have free places to stay nearby while you are being treated.

list of top Cancer Centers

Good luck!!!!

Can you go to the U of Alabama in Birmingham? Is CTCA convenient to where you live? Or is there another reason you are thinking about going there?

The Reuters news service published an investigation into Cancer Treatment Centers of America's survival statistics last month. Before joining Reuters, the lead reporter, Sharon Begley, was a science editor and columnist at Newsweek/The Daily Beast; she previously was science columnist at the Wall Street Journal and science editor at Newsweek.

Here's some background on the data used to put the article together.

Three years ago this CTC was discussed on the forum
CTC 09
As Leslie's article points out, CTC plays fast and loose with its survival rates. Worse, in my mind, is that the CTC offer real TX like radiation, chemo, and surgery but push very expensive non insurance covered quack remedies like naturopathy
Highly questionable places,
Finally, as someone who just qualified for Medicare 6 months ago, I do not like their policy of screening out Medicare patients. My CCC treated me exactly the same both before and after Medicare for all my treatments and hospitizations.
Reuters exposed this nasty information last month that Leslie has kindly posted above under the "investigation" link.

So basically, their survival numbers are bogus. As Mark Twain used to say: Figures lie and liars figure. Here is how CTC runs their little deception, again from Leslie's article

[quote]In the database CTCA compares itself to, called SEER and run by the National Cancer Institute, 53 percent of patients were diagnosed at the Medicare-eligible age of 65 or older, and 14 percent are below the poverty level, an indication of those covered by Medicaid or uninsured.[/quote]
Charm

I also heard CTCA are selective who they treat, and know of someone who was turned away, but many CCC will do the same, especially with complicated cases, prior treatments elsewhere. Due to their selectiveness, they inflate their success rates, and Medicare is not accepted, I believe, as mentioned. Also, I do not see CTCA in "US News Report's Best Hospitals", which I often go by, for cancer and ENT, although their marketing is probably the best around. Good luck.

If you look at Otolaryngology under the "Doctors" link at the CTCA website, you'll see that the hospitals in Philadelphia, the Atlanta area and the Phoenix area each have only one ENT on staff and the hospitals near Chicago and in Tulsa have none. (Last year CTCA had only one ENT for all of its facilities.) So head/neck/oral cancer isn't an area in which CTCA has a lot of experience.

The top centers in the U.S. have many more ENTs on staff -- M.D. Anderson (#1 in cancer and #5 in ENT according to the U.S. News rankings) has 14, and Johns Hopkins (#1 in ENT and #3 in cancer) has 12. Closer to home for you, UAB -- which Eva Grayzel mentioned and which, like M.D. Anderson and Hopkins, is a member of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, an alliance of 21 leading cancer centers in the U.S. -- has five. These numbers would allow for diverse perspectives and easy consultations as a treatment plan is developed.

If it turns out that you are dealing with a recurrence, your best move is to be at a place that treats hundreds, or even thousands, of OC cases each year.

Thanks for all of the information. I will be going to UAB in Birmingham.

Awesome good luck!

RICH QoUACKS ZERO. HOMETEAM HEROES 100
YEA!!!!!!