Which Melanoma Cancer Center shall we turn to?

The following is a list of the top 5 cancer hospitals in the US. 

1.  MD Anderson, Houston, Texas

2. Sloan Kettering, New York City

3. John Hopkins, Baltimore, Md

4. Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Mn

5. Dana Farber, Boston, Ma

You can Google top hospitals for cancer and will get a more complete lest, however these are ranked the top 5.

Jackie W

The following is a list of the top 5 cancer hospitals in the US. 

1.  MD Anderson, Houston, Texas

2. Sloan Kettering, New York City

3. John Hopkins, Baltimore, Md

4. Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Mn

5. Dana Farber, Boston, Ma

You can Google top hospitals for cancer and will get a more complete lest, however these are ranked the top 5.

Jackie W

The following is a list of the top 5 cancer hospitals in the US. 

1.  MD Anderson, Houston, Texas

2. Sloan Kettering, New York City

3. John Hopkins, Baltimore, Md

4. Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Mn

5. Dana Farber, Boston, Ma

You can Google top hospitals for cancer and will get a more complete lest, however these are ranked the top 5.

Jackie W

Mucosal melanoma (vaginal) is quite rare so I would make sure you contact any place you are thinking of going to and ask them how many people they have treated with the same type of melanoma.  You might be able to do a long distance conference instead of flying there – at least at the start.  But if you can determine the best treatment options for that type of melanoma, you might find which centers have clinical trials or treatments geared toward mucosal melanoma.  No one cancer hospital really has better survival figures than any other – you are looking for a place that regularly treats mucosal melanoma and has treatments or clinical trials to further their research.  It would really pay you to do your legwork with those hospitals up front so you know if it is in your sister's best interest to fly that far for treatments. 

Best wishes,

Janner

Mucosal melanoma (vaginal) is quite rare so I would make sure you contact any place you are thinking of going to and ask them how many people they have treated with the same type of melanoma.  You might be able to do a long distance conference instead of flying there – at least at the start.  But if you can determine the best treatment options for that type of melanoma, you might find which centers have clinical trials or treatments geared toward mucosal melanoma.  No one cancer hospital really has better survival figures than any other – you are looking for a place that regularly treats mucosal melanoma and has treatments or clinical trials to further their research.  It would really pay you to do your legwork with those hospitals up front so you know if it is in your sister's best interest to fly that far for treatments. 

Best wishes,

Janner

Mucosal melanoma (vaginal) is quite rare so I would make sure you contact any place you are thinking of going to and ask them how many people they have treated with the same type of melanoma.  You might be able to do a long distance conference instead of flying there – at least at the start.  But if you can determine the best treatment options for that type of melanoma, you might find which centers have clinical trials or treatments geared toward mucosal melanoma.  No one cancer hospital really has better survival figures than any other – you are looking for a place that regularly treats mucosal melanoma and has treatments or clinical trials to further their research.  It would really pay you to do your legwork with those hospitals up front so you know if it is in your sister's best interest to fly that far for treatments. 

Best wishes,

Janner

Hello,

My Mother has Stage lV, Mucosal Melanoma of the Vulva. She is a young 69 year old. She is almost 3 year out with this diagnosis.  After having a radical bilateral vulvectomy followed by an intence month of interferon in Miami under the care of Dr. Jose Lutsky at Mount Sinai in Miami Beach. We are still under his care. My Mother had a recurrance exactly 10 months after her first surgery. She had a second surgery to remove lymph nodes in her groin area. After that the melanoma was removed from her outer stomach area.  She  does have some tumor activity in her lung and something on the outer stomach wall. She did complete 4 infusions of Yervoy July 19th and since her last PET scan she is showing lung activity smaller as well as outer stomach area smaller. I guess she is showing some response. My Mother had very heavy side effects from the Yervoy that her Dr said were very rare. She had terrible mouth sores as well as sores down her esophagus. This did not delay her Yervoy infusions. We see the Dr again on Dec 6th. He is talking about maybe operating on her again, but we are hoping to see even better results with our next scans. My Mother is both Braf-negative and C-kit negative. This is not uncommon for this type of mucosal melanoma. We have talked with the Dr if needed we would do a reinduction of Yervoy or get her into an Anti-pd1 trial. Dr. Lutzky was meeting with the people to maybe start a Anti-pd1L trial at his center. When I go with her on Dec 6th I will find out more about that. Through all of my readings and askings I have found that with mucosal melanoma if you are braf and c-kit negative the treatment is no different then all other melanoma patients.  Has your sister had her tumors tested yet? She should try and get Yervoy soon. Yes, this type of melanoma is very rare, but with all of todays treatment options your sister has a lot of living to do. If my Mother was to ever look for a second opion it would be Sloan in New York. However, we are very happy and comfortable with our Dr in Miami. Please feel free to ask me any question sthat might help you. I will be thinking of your sister and sending lots of love and prayers. You are truly a very special sister to her.

Warm regards,

Wendy

Hello,

My Mother has Stage lV, Mucosal Melanoma of the Vulva. She is a young 69 year old. She is almost 3 year out with this diagnosis.  After having a radical bilateral vulvectomy followed by an intence month of interferon in Miami under the care of Dr. Jose Lutsky at Mount Sinai in Miami Beach. We are still under his care. My Mother had a recurrance exactly 10 months after her first surgery. She had a second surgery to remove lymph nodes in her groin area. After that the melanoma was removed from her outer stomach area.  She  does have some tumor activity in her lung and something on the outer stomach wall. She did complete 4 infusions of Yervoy July 19th and since her last PET scan she is showing lung activity smaller as well as outer stomach area smaller. I guess she is showing some response. My Mother had very heavy side effects from the Yervoy that her Dr said were very rare. She had terrible mouth sores as well as sores down her esophagus. This did not delay her Yervoy infusions. We see the Dr again on Dec 6th. He is talking about maybe operating on her again, but we are hoping to see even better results with our next scans. My Mother is both Braf-negative and C-kit negative. This is not uncommon for this type of mucosal melanoma. We have talked with the Dr if needed we would do a reinduction of Yervoy or get her into an Anti-pd1 trial. Dr. Lutzky was meeting with the people to maybe start a Anti-pd1L trial at his center. When I go with her on Dec 6th I will find out more about that. Through all of my readings and askings I have found that with mucosal melanoma if you are braf and c-kit negative the treatment is no different then all other melanoma patients.  Has your sister had her tumors tested yet? She should try and get Yervoy soon. Yes, this type of melanoma is very rare, but with all of todays treatment options your sister has a lot of living to do. If my Mother was to ever look for a second opion it would be Sloan in New York. However, we are very happy and comfortable with our Dr in Miami. Please feel free to ask me any question sthat might help you. I will be thinking of your sister and sending lots of love and prayers. You are truly a very special sister to her.

Warm regards,

Wendy

Hello,

My Mother has Stage lV, Mucosal Melanoma of the Vulva. She is a young 69 year old. She is almost 3 year out with this diagnosis.  After having a radical bilateral vulvectomy followed by an intence month of interferon in Miami under the care of Dr. Jose Lutsky at Mount Sinai in Miami Beach. We are still under his care. My Mother had a recurrance exactly 10 months after her first surgery. She had a second surgery to remove lymph nodes in her groin area. After that the melanoma was removed from her outer stomach area.  She  does have some tumor activity in her lung and something on the outer stomach wall. She did complete 4 infusions of Yervoy July 19th and since her last PET scan she is showing lung activity smaller as well as outer stomach area smaller. I guess she is showing some response. My Mother had very heavy side effects from the Yervoy that her Dr said were very rare. She had terrible mouth sores as well as sores down her esophagus. This did not delay her Yervoy infusions. We see the Dr again on Dec 6th. He is talking about maybe operating on her again, but we are hoping to see even better results with our next scans. My Mother is both Braf-negative and C-kit negative. This is not uncommon for this type of mucosal melanoma. We have talked with the Dr if needed we would do a reinduction of Yervoy or get her into an Anti-pd1 trial. Dr. Lutzky was meeting with the people to maybe start a Anti-pd1L trial at his center. When I go with her on Dec 6th I will find out more about that. Through all of my readings and askings I have found that with mucosal melanoma if you are braf and c-kit negative the treatment is no different then all other melanoma patients.  Has your sister had her tumors tested yet? She should try and get Yervoy soon. Yes, this type of melanoma is very rare, but with all of todays treatment options your sister has a lot of living to do. If my Mother was to ever look for a second opion it would be Sloan in New York. However, we are very happy and comfortable with our Dr in Miami. Please feel free to ask me any question sthat might help you. I will be thinking of your sister and sending lots of love and prayers. You are truly a very special sister to her.

Warm regards,

Wendy

Here is a URL to look at at MD Anderson in Texas –

http://explore.mdanderson.org/search?q=Vulva&btnG.x=39&btnG.y=10&entqr=0&output=xml_no_dtd&sort=date%3AD%3AL%3Ad1&client=my_collection&btnG.y=13&btnG.y=13&btnG.x=32&btnG.x=22&ud=1&oe=UTF-8&ie=UTF-8&proxystylesheet=my_collection&site=my_collection

I have seen several articles that show Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center too be quite involved with mucosal Melanoma also.

Here are some  of their URL's to look at.

http://www.vicc.org/ct/fact-results.php?cancer-type=Melanoma

http://www.vicc.org/ct/fact-results.php?cancer-type=Gynecologic

http://www.vicc.org/clinics/gyn.php

http://www.mc.vanderbilt.edu/root/vumc.php?site=urologicsurgery

http://www.vicc.org/dd/dz/

Here is a URL to look at at MD Anderson in Texas –

http://explore.mdanderson.org/search?q=Vulva&btnG.x=39&btnG.y=10&entqr=0&output=xml_no_dtd&sort=date%3AD%3AL%3Ad1&client=my_collection&btnG.y=13&btnG.y=13&btnG.x=32&btnG.x=22&ud=1&oe=UTF-8&ie=UTF-8&proxystylesheet=my_collection&site=my_collection

I have seen several articles that show Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center too be quite involved with mucosal Melanoma also.

Here are some  of their URL's to look at.

http://www.vicc.org/ct/fact-results.php?cancer-type=Melanoma

http://www.vicc.org/ct/fact-results.php?cancer-type=Gynecologic

http://www.vicc.org/clinics/gyn.php

http://www.mc.vanderbilt.edu/root/vumc.php?site=urologicsurgery

http://www.vicc.org/dd/dz/

Here is a URL to look at at MD Anderson in Texas –

http://explore.mdanderson.org/search?q=Vulva&btnG.x=39&btnG.y=10&entqr=0&output=xml_no_dtd&sort=date%3AD%3AL%3Ad1&client=my_collection&btnG.y=13&btnG.y=13&btnG.x=32&btnG.x=22&ud=1&oe=UTF-8&ie=UTF-8&proxystylesheet=my_collection&site=my_collection

I have seen several articles that show Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center too be quite involved with mucosal Melanoma also.

Here are some  of their URL's to look at.

http://www.vicc.org/ct/fact-results.php?cancer-type=Melanoma

http://www.vicc.org/ct/fact-results.php?cancer-type=Gynecologic

http://www.vicc.org/clinics/gyn.php

http://www.mc.vanderbilt.edu/root/vumc.php?site=urologicsurgery

http://www.vicc.org/dd/dz/

i've had good luck at moffitt…vanderbilt is another good one as well as dana farber…melanoma treatment requires repeated trips to doctors office so i would probably pick the closest one to your home…which would likely be dana farber.

i've had good luck at moffitt…vanderbilt is another good one as well as dana farber…melanoma treatment requires repeated trips to doctors office so i would probably pick the closest one to your home…which would likely be dana farber.

i've had good luck at moffitt…vanderbilt is another good one as well as dana farber…melanoma treatment requires repeated trips to doctors office so i would probably pick the closest one to your home…which would likely be dana farber.

One other thing – you may consider looking at doctors and centers in Australia.  That's certainly closer to you.  Australia has the highest incidence of melanoma in the world and certainly has fine centers for treatment.  If a treatment you seek is offered there, it might be a better choice.  Just thought I'd throw this out there for consideration.

Best wishes,

Janner

One other thing – you may consider looking at doctors and centers in Australia.  That's certainly closer to you.  Australia has the highest incidence of melanoma in the world and certainly has fine centers for treatment.  If a treatment you seek is offered there, it might be a better choice.  Just thought I'd throw this out there for consideration.

Best wishes,

Janner

One other thing – you may consider looking at doctors and centers in Australia.  That's certainly closer to you.  Australia has the highest incidence of melanoma in the world and certainly has fine centers for treatment.  If a treatment you seek is offered there, it might be a better choice.  Just thought I'd throw this out there for consideration.

Best wishes,

Janner

If you are looking into the possibility of coming to Boston, then you should also look into Mass General Cancer Center (#6 on that list of best cancer hospitals, right behind Dana Farber). My husband and I had a phenomenal experience there. Both Dr. Flaherty and Dr. Lawrence have tons of years of experience.

Michelle

If you are looking into the possibility of coming to Boston, then you should also look into Mass General Cancer Center (#6 on that list of best cancer hospitals, right behind Dana Farber). My husband and I had a phenomenal experience there. Both Dr. Flaherty and Dr. Lawrence have tons of years of experience.

Michelle

If you are looking into the possibility of coming to Boston, then you should also look into Mass General Cancer Center (#6 on that list of best cancer hospitals, right behind Dana Farber). My husband and I had a phenomenal experience there. Both Dr. Flaherty and Dr. Lawrence have tons of years of experience.

Michelle

You could e-mail Dr Weber at Moffitt and ask if they deal with it. [email protected]   He will give you a quick response. I personally believe and perhaps it is because I am in a trial there and NED that its the best!

You could e-mail Dr Weber at Moffitt and ask if they deal with it. [email protected]   He will give you a quick response. I personally believe and perhaps it is because I am in a trial there and NED that its the best!

You could e-mail Dr Weber at Moffitt and ask if they deal with it. [email protected]   He will give you a quick response. I personally believe and perhaps it is because I am in a trial there and NED that its the best!