Seattle: Drs. Hoistad, Raisis, Mengham

[jeremy]

Hi all,

looking for anyone with experience with any of these folks in Seattle.  Hoistad is at Polyclinic and does his surgeries in tandem with Raisis from Northwest Neurological

Mengham is at Seattle Ear and I think is a verteran from House in LA

Would also be glad for any suggestions of AN experts at University of Washinton or Harborview medical centers.

thanks,
j

[Raydean]

I was told that recently (within the last 18 months) that Seattle had some new Doctors comming in to our area that was well trained in AN's.  I dont know the names but  it's possible Dr  Hoistad could be one of these doctors.

The Doctor that I've heard the most about is a Dr. Duckart at U of W.  I've met one patient that had his AN treated by Dr Duckart.  The person had an excellent outcome and was very happy with the doctor.

I've met a couple of former patients of Doctor Raises that has had excellent outcomes.  Dr Raises does both surgery and radiation so his opinion  would be valuable.  One patient is someone from our area ( rural area) that I knew prior to the AN and see ocassionaly. He really looks great .

Dr Mangham did a fellowship at  The House and is well known at The House.  I Researched Dr. Mangham  a few years back during my husband's treatment time and  found him to be very experienced and knowledgable. He's top notch in my opinion. On the website www.seattleear.com you can check out his credentials and training.

There might be others from the Seattle area that are on this list who might be able to help more.

Raydean

[Raydean]

Hi Jeremy

I asked a friend of mine who is a doctor in another area about Doctor's at Harborview and the U of W.
He wasn't familar with the U of W doctors but suggested a Doctor William Longstreth.  (Sure hope I'm close in regards to spelling) at Harborview.

Hope this helps
Raydean

[nannettesea]

You should e-mail littlemissrory@hotmail.com.  She had a wonderful outcome with Dr. Mengham at Swedish.

I had trans-lab with Dr. Jay Rubinstein at U of WA and he was great, also.  He spent 10 years studying middle-fossia approach at U of IA.  I would recommend him highly, he specializes in AN.

Nan

[jeremy]

Thanks, all.  So far I've had consultations with Hoistad and Raisis (they work in tandem on surgeries).  They both were very personable and took time to answer all my questions.  Hoistad recommended sub-occ surgery, Raisis (who as Raydean noted does both GK and surgery) said I could go either sub-occ or GK, but didn't make a recommendation.  I see Mengham tomorrow.

Thanks for the other suggestions, I will see if I can follow up with them.  at some point I expect my insurance company will stop paying for all these consults, though   I have seen Rubinstein's name before, he presented at the 2005 American Neurotolgy Society conference ("Small acoustic neruomas: observation versus surgical excision", see page 17 of http://www.otology-neurotology.org/ANS/files/2005Abstracts.pdf)

[littlemissrory]

Hey Jeremy

I saw Dr Mangham (Seattle Ear Clinic) and had surgery in May 2004.  He and his neurosurgeon partner Dr. Steege are fantastic.  My tumor was small, 8mm, but making me sick and I was falling over from it.  A month after I left the hospital I took my whitewater kayak out to the lake to practice rolling.  Yeah, it didn't feel great- but certainly helped in recovery.  I started to learn to surf that summer, and then spent the entire winter skiing and travelling. 

He was able to save all three nerves- my hearing, facial and balance nerves.  He is straight forward, honest and quite brilliant-I'd certainly trust him with my brain again should the need arise.

 
Feel free to e-mail me at littlemissrory@hotmail.com or call  206.919.7020 should you have any specific questions about them.

Best of luck.
Rory

[jeremy]

thanks all.  I had a consult with Dr. Manghan and last week, and was very impressed.  Two things that really stuck out vs. other surgeons I'd talk to:
1) he is on top of the research and literature.  He knows what the latest studies have shown, he know what results local Seattle practitioners have had, and he's published his own seires (Laryngoscope 114:1455-1461, Aug 2004) with some really fantastic results
2) he really took the time to look my films over and discuss the data he used as the basis for estimating the likely outcome for me.  He pointed out two things that other surgeons either didn't notice, or didn't feel the need to tell me.  First was that, despite some of the contrast shots showing what looks like the tumor pressing on the brainstem, other shots clearly show CSF fluid barrier present between tumor and brainstem, which he says is a good sign.  And second, he pointed out the advantage he'll have since the tumor does not fully occupy the inner ear canal -- there's 4 mm of clearance towards the end, which gives him a better chance to see where the nerves are.

after lots of research and discussion, I'm inclined to have Dr. Mangham do the surgery for me at the end of Nov.