North Shore University

Just recieved an information packet and application form for North Shore University's (Chicago) AS program and wondering if anyone here has had any experience with them?

First I will say that I know nothing about NorthShore's AS program. Then I will say that I have attended a PCa support group that is sponsored by NorthShore at Glenbrook Hospital in Glenview. I don't want to rain on anybody's parade, but the one speaker I remember clearly was a radiation oncologist there, with 20+ years' experience. His presentation was supposed to be about the newest advances in radiation therapy for PCa. Well, it was and it wasn't. He only spoke about the treatments that the hospital had to offer, but never qualified his remarks. He did mention their newest development -- that they now can offer effective RT in only 25 fractions, instead of the previous standard of 40-50. To that point I was with him. Until he went on to mention "newer experimental methods like SBRT, which do not have enough history behind them and should only be considered experimental and should be used only in clinical trials."

Really? Where has he been for the past 5 or 10 years? Does he read the research in his own field? True, SBRT "only" has 9 years of history but IMRT only had 10 or 11 years' history when it became the standard of care.

If you are in the Chicago area, especially the northwest suburbs, I suggest that you look into other programs, such as Northwest Community Hospital, Lutheran General Hospital or the Chicago Prostate Cancer Center in Westmont before you commit to any doctor or treatment.

My family's experience is that NorthShore is not a leader in up-to-date medicine.

P.S. I just read that you are looking at AS programs. In that case, in addition to the other centers, you could consider Northwestern Memorial, University of Chicago or University of Illinois/Rush Medical Center. All of these are highly regarded centers for cancer treatment.

Cigafred said...
Not much relevance to AS, although the "by the book, standard of care" may explain some of the above.

Possibly. I guess I am not going to make a big deal that a doctor, representing a facility, prefers to speak about those treatment modalities available at his location. That is fair, but I feel that he should mention the others as being treatments you could look into, but would need to go elsewhere for them. I also take issue with his declaring SBRT as "to be used only in clinical trials." That is just wrong.

Chicago is a great place if you need medical specialty practitioners. We have several centers of excellence, such as Northwestern Memorial Hospital, University of Chicago Hospital, University of Illinois/Rush Medical, Loyola Medical and loads of other specialty clinics like Cancer Treatment Center of America and Chicago Prostate Cancer Center.

I don't know about them all, but would be happy to help research them if you want.

P.S. At a support group meeting last evening I learned that only 2 centers that treat PCa also have certified sex therapists to help with rehab. These 2 are Cancer Treatment Center (in Zion, north of Chicago) and NorthShore University Medical at Glenbrook. ;-)

P.P.S. At your age they may press for surgery. If you decide to go that route, both Northwestern and Univ. of Chicago have renowned experts in prostatectomy on staff.

Cigafred said...
Paxton wrote: Possibly. I guess I am not going to make a big deal that a doctor, representing a facility, prefers to speak about those treatment modalities available at his location. That is fair, but I feel that he should mention the others as being treatments you could look into, but would need to go elsewhere for them. I also take issue with his declaring SBRT as "to be used only in clinical trials." That is just wrong.
I do not think it is correct to equate "by the book" with only those "available at his location." And, as I said, he has been happy to collaborate on my, and others, non-by-the-book treatments.
I did not write anything about SBRT above, where is that from?
None of this of great importance, I am just trying to convey the atmosphere I have encountered in my treatment there.

Yeah, I agree with Cigafred. What you need is someone to manage your AS case. Northshore seems well suited for that task. If you might possibly need treatment in the future (and over the span of 20-years, about 50% of men on AS eventually do need treatment), then you can look at the best possible treatment options for yourself at that time...and treatment modes/results will undoubtedly have improved over time.