NPC treatment oversea

shortie81
shortie81 Member Posts: 11
edited March 2017 in Head and Neck Cancer #1

Has anyone have oversea treatment for NPC? I'm just curious and exploring all options. Since we are Asians and this type of cancer is more commomn in China, maybe getting treatment in China might be best. Unfortunately, moving & getting treatment in China is not an option for my cousin as she is the breadwinner & also have 4 kids. Are there any financial assistance out there? She is currently getting immunotherapy and being treated at UCSD. She had a few rounds of Chemo and is now on Immunotherapy. Very little progress so far. She has stage 4 cancer and was diagnosed Thanksgiving of 2015. The cancer is right between her eyes and about the size of a baseball. It has spread to her spine & liver. She also has liver cysts of over 30. The doctors are not sure what caused the cysts or for it to flare up. Just last month, one of her cysts burst & she almost didn't make it. For some unknown reasons, her artery walls are so thin, it was almost impossible to perform surgery on her. There's not much more the doctors at UCSD can do for her. We've considered proton therapy but it was ruled out by the doctors. She just got back from MD Anderson for a second opinion and the news was very disappointing. They pretty much told her the same thing UCSD have told her. MD Anderson told her that is she wanted more information, for her to go over to Asia. So now we're back to square one.

Comments

  • Kenny-
    Kenny- Member Posts: 99 Member
    edited March 2017 #2
    NPC

    shortie, 

    I'm so sorry for hearing about your situation. I'm also Asian origin, and have NPC T2N0M0. Without being too aware of your situation, I'm very concerned for giving any advise. 

    Did you do any radiation? I noticed you had no mention of radiation (IMRT/IGRT). Was this ruled out? 

    Going to Asia,  NPC is common in Southern China, Taiwan and Singapore. These countries will have speciality services that you're looking for and access to the clinical trials. There was once an article by Singapore regarding Immunotherapy. However, I personally haven't done too much research on them. Singapore is known for having one of the top health care in the region, but it is also qutie expensive. 

    Malaysia is also fairly common and promotes medical tourism. NPC is a relatively common cancer. The expenses in Malaysia are likely more affordable compared with the other countries. I came from there. As a reference, my visit with a private ENT, cost $50 USD (out of pocket) and didn't need to do an appointment (visit same day). However, I'm not sure if there's access to specialty treatments.

    I personally can't share more than some of the above as I haven't researched it that much. However, hope it helps in researching this.

     

     

  • shortie81
    shortie81 Member Posts: 11
    edited March 2017 #3
    Kenny- said:

    NPC

    shortie, 

    I'm so sorry for hearing about your situation. I'm also Asian origin, and have NPC T2N0M0. Without being too aware of your situation, I'm very concerned for giving any advise. 

    Did you do any radiation? I noticed you had no mention of radiation (IMRT/IGRT). Was this ruled out? 

    Going to Asia,  NPC is common in Southern China, Taiwan and Singapore. These countries will have speciality services that you're looking for and access to the clinical trials. There was once an article by Singapore regarding Immunotherapy. However, I personally haven't done too much research on them. Singapore is known for having one of the top health care in the region, but it is also qutie expensive. 

    Malaysia is also fairly common and promotes medical tourism. NPC is a relatively common cancer. The expenses in Malaysia are likely more affordable compared with the other countries. I came from there. As a reference, my visit with a private ENT, cost $50 USD (out of pocket) and didn't need to do an appointment (visit same day). However, I'm not sure if there's access to specialty treatments.

    I personally can't share more than some of the above as I haven't researched it that much. However, hope it helps in researching this.

     

     

    Hi Kenny, it's my cousin who

    Hi Kenny, it's my cousin who has NPC. She hasn't have radiation yet although proton therapy may be an option in the future. Because of her situation, there's not much the doctors can do at this point. When you hear that kind of news from 2 different doctors, it's pretty disappointing. But they did said that immunotherapy seems to be working    unfortunately at a slow rate.

     

    I appreciate any feedbacks that that you can give me. As you've already know it's a rare cancer & not much is known about it. Do you currently reside in Malaysia? I'm trying to figure out what kind of financial assistance programs are out there for international patients. I'm sorry to hear about your illness. May God help us all, to heal,  have strength and hope. 

  • Kenny-
    Kenny- Member Posts: 99 Member
    #4
    in the usa

    i'm currently in the USA. 

    Unfortuantely, I'm not familiar with the international options. Although very glad that immunotherapy is working for her. Where did you do the immunotherapy? I'm sorry I can't help much other than this. I had a standard treatment.

  • tkoinc
    tkoinc Member Posts: 1
    #5
    Did any of you test positive

    Did any of you test positive for EBV?  What immuotherapy is being administered currently?  Do you have any update on your condition since your last posting?  

  • Jimbo55
    Jimbo55 Member Posts: 590 Member
    edited April 2018 #6
    Thailand

    Hi, I had treatment (rads and chemo) for BOT stage 4 in Thailand. That was in 2010. I also went to Singapore for 2nd opinions. The hospitals are excellent, modern and very professional. As mentioned by Kenny, medical tourism is quite big in Asia, certainly in Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore. The costs are much lower than in the US. My knowledge of NPC is next to nothing, so I can't help with that. To give an example of the costs, I had a PET/CT in November, the cost was about $1700-1800.

    I don't have any info on any financial assistance as I had insurance which covered most everything. Let me know if I can help you out with any other info.

     

     

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