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Home > Chronic and Serious Illness > Cancer Don't Start Treatment Without a Second Opinion In making certain your treatment is the best choice for you, remember first of all that cancer is diagnosed by pathologists. They're the ones who look under a microscope and decide if a lesion is abnormal or not. They help determine what stage of cancer you are dealing with. So the first rule of making certain you get the right treatment is making certain you are dealing with what your doctor thinks you have to deal with. Toward that end we recommend you read Accurate Pathology Diagnosis is the Key to Successful Cancer Treatment. You may want to first finish this article, but be sure to come back to that article to find out where you can get a second opinion on one of the most basic aspects of treatment. The pathologists who support a public service website have given us permission to print this article. And the pathologists you can find on their site have not paid (and cannot pay) to be listed there; rather, they are selected on purely academic credentials. Also, they receive no funding from hospitals or pathology departments. Since the consequences of an inaccurate diagnosis can be very serious, when considering a second opinion, be sure to take into account your pathology report. However, once you have an accurate pathology report, how can you make certain you are getting the best treatment? Even if you think you can trust you doctor, consider how treatment options are presented to you. As you probably already know, basic conventional or standard cancer treatment recommended by the majority of physicians in the United States is surgery, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy. Sometimes these methods are used by themselves, but more often they are used in combination. Surgery removes the tumor, radiotherapy attempts to kill any remaining cancer cells, and chemotherapy (using powerful drugs) works to destroy cancer cells that may have metastasized or traveled to other parts of the body. Since specific techniques are recommended for each type of cancer because they have gone through extensive clinical trials coordinated by the National Cancer Institute and are considered to be "state-of-the-art" protocols, there is a tendency to feel your doctor knows best. But in the field of cancer treatment -- sometimes much more so than for other diseases -- experts often disagree with other experts. Part of the reason is that oncologists, radiologists, surgeons, and other specialists are most likely to recommend the approaches to treatment with which they are most familiar. Therefore, before consenting to any treatment or diagnostic procedures, especially ones that carry significant risk or cost, get a second opinion. In fact, getting a second or third opinion can reinforce a choice you've made. And if you have a recurrence or advanced cancer and have been told nothing more can be done, it can often pay to look beyond the information you get from your doctor. Many insurance policies will cover a second opinion, but if yours doesn't, the extra cost of reassurance -- and possibly a piece of information that can be life-saving -- is well worth it. If you still find you are getting conflicting opinions after you've talked with another specialist and/or if you don't clearly understand the reasons your doctor gives for the treatment he or she suggests, have the doctors talk to each other to clarify their recommendations. If they still don't agree, it doesn't hurt to get a third opinion. But in any situation you have to weigh the information, see what feels right to you and make a decision for yourself, with input from family and friends when possible and practical. For an excellent article on second opinions, read Second Opinions: Why, When, and Who by Steve Dunn on CancerGuide. Resources for Second Opinions One way to get a second opinion is to contact one of the Second Opinion Institutions listed on the BLAST Cancer website. These are institutions that will, when "specifically requested by a cancer patient within 3 weeks of diagnosis or recurrence, provide a multidisciplinary second opinion with a physician representing each discipline that could possibly treat the specific type of cancer present simultaneously." Another way is to contact the organizations below to find a surgeon, radiologist, or oncologist in your area. American College of Physicians Independence Mall West Sixth Street at Race Philadelphia, PA 19106-1572 (215) 351-2600 (800) 523-1546 55 East Erie Street Chicago, IL 60611 (312) 664-4050 Their 1996 Directory of Commission-Approved Cancer Programs is available for $10. They will also provide lists of member surgeons by geographical area. 1891 Preston White Drive Reston, VA 22091 (800) 227-5463 They can provide you with publications on radiology treatment and side effects. American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) 225 Reinekers Lane Suite 650 Alexandria, VA 22314 703-299-0150 Fax: 703-299-1044 Their 1996 Membership Directory is available to non-members for $125 plus $4 shipping. American Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons 444 East Algonquin Road Arlington Heights, IL 60005 (708) 228-9900 (800) 635-0635 (referral message tape) Will provide written information on reconstruction and mail a list of certified reconstructive surgeons by geographical area after callers provide details on the above (800) message tape. — © Learning Place
Online, 2002
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