Duke Vs Medical University Of Charleston

Does anybody have any info on either of these hospitals. My 75 year old mother is undergoing testing to see if she should have surgery to remove her esophagus. These hospitals are the closest to us. Also does anybody have any feeligs on clinical trials. We are not sure what stage she is in yet but she really doesn't have symptoms yet. Pet scan says cancer hasn't spread but she does have a spot on a lung that we don't know what it is yet. May be a 2nd cancer, may be scar tissue according to Dr. It is too small to biopsy. Thanks for any info. This is my 3rd posting on this. I hope I am not being a pest but I want any help I can get to help my Mother 

Hi

So sorry to hear about your mother. My FIL 's PET scan showed the same thing. Very small spots on lung and rib. Dr.'s were not concerned about those. I did read on the Mayo Clinic site said that it was so very important to find an experienced surgeon. So I guess that will be our next step. I have been reading there are different ways to do the surgery. The dr. told us that they would pull his stomach up to form new esoph. I had read they could use small intestine and or a tube inserted to replace it. Pulling the stomach up seems so awful not mention so invasive a surgery. My fil had symptoms of difficulty swallowing for quite some time before he went to the dr. I was so relieved to learn that it had not spread throughout his body. I know in my heart that is good news. But the battle ahead. Please Lord be with us all and guide us

Best of luck

Janet

I would have chemoradiation followed by surgery if possible, if not then chemoradiation.  They can watch the lung lesion or treat it expectantly with Radiation either external beam or cyberknife.  This is usually followed by more chemo then watchful waiting.  A feeding tube should be placed for nutrition and hydration during this time.  Patients do much better with it.

my  mother has been treated for almost 2 years at duke univ.  i can not even begin to express the faith we have in the doctors at duke.  in my opinion, if i ever had to make the choice of where myself or another family member had treatment for cancer, it would absolutely be duke!!!  in my opinion they are top notch!!!!!

I am so delighted to hear that Duke is so good. My FIL has decided to request from his Oncologist to go to Duke for the EC surgery. The pastor that performed his wedding ceremony had the same surgery there several years ago and has done great. They perform over 200 esophagectmies sp.? per year. Has anyone looked at the Virginia Mason website, they are located in Seattle WA... check it out. What wonderful results they have.