RCC Doctor

Racinreggie

Who is the best renal cancer doctor? And where are they located? And who gives IL 2? Thanks

Positive_Mental_Attitude

Racinreggie, I see in one of

Racinreggie, I see in one of your other posts you went to a cancer center in Chicago.  I think you are going to get a wide variety of opinions as to who is the "best" renal cancer doctor.  Do you want a urologist, an oncologist or both?

Will your insurance pay if you go outside of your home state?  I had an issue with my insurance not allowing me to go to NYC when I lived a short distance away in NJ.  I fought them and they eventually paid.  I went to Memorial Sloan Kettering in NYC, and I was extremely pleased with their treatment, but I was only stage 1.

I found my doctor by reading the American Urological Association Guidelines on Renal Masses and using a Google search to research each doctor.  I was lucky to find Dr. Paul Russo was not too far away at MSKCC.  If you are in the midwest, I think Icemantoo can give you some suggestions.  I understand that Henry Ford in Detroit has some good doctors, and the Cleveland Clinic is excellent too.  The second author on the Guidelines, Steven C. Campbell, MD, PhD, was co-chair of the Panel that wrote the guidelines, is at the Cleveland Clinic.

Here is a link to the guidelines I mentioned. I figured that if a doctor was on the panel that wrote the guidelines, they must have some decent credentials.

https://www.auanet.org/education/guidelines/renal-mass.cfm

I can't answer your question about IL2.

jason.2835

Loaded question

Racinreggie,

That is somewhat of a loaded question. I am sure if you asked 100 people who'd had successful treatment you'd get 99 different answers because everyone thinks "their" Doctor is the best! 

In the end, you want someone who has a lot of experience in kidney cancer. Kidney cancer is not as well known as, say, breast or prostate cancer so it can be difficult to find someone who's main focus is RCC. I've found that there a larger number of surgeons who can do the surgery well. It's the oncologists that specialize in RCC that are harder to find. 

 

jason.2835

Part 2

Wasn't done; my iPad is being weird. 

I was going to add that you should start with your primary doctor to have them get on the phone (if they don't already know a specialist) and find one in your area that's good. (This will also help with various insurance issues) 

Like PMA, I can't really speak to the IL2 question, either. Sorry about that. I know there are a number of hospitals in Philadelphia that do it, but I don't think that helps you very much. 

Good luck,

- Jay

DMike

IL2 Centers

Here's a link to IL2 center locations:

http://www.proleukin.com/health-care-professional/treating/treatment-referral.html

I had mine at Vanderbilt in Nashville, TN.

 

David

todd121

How to find RCC oncologists

I found several by going to the website for drug studies, looking up studies on RCC, and then finding the contacts in my area (each drug study lists a contact in your area that is involved in the study). You'll find that doctors involved in RCC studies are usually RCC oncologists, urologic oncologist very interested in RCC.

There's a link on this website to the Clinical Trials Finder. That probably should take you to the national website for clinical trials. If it doesn't, I can look for the link for you.

You can ask when you call if they do IL2 or refer to places that do IL2. My current oncologist doesn't do it, but I visited another in my area that does. If I was going to do IL2, I'd want a doc that has a well-trained staff that has been doing IL2 for a long time. It's been around a long time, so you should be able to find one.

Todd