UCSF versus Stanford?

[lisa1972]

My husband was recently diagnosed with an acoustic neuroma ... his tumor is 7mm x 14mm x 8mm.  The ENT that diagnosed him said she was referring him to Stanford, so he made an appointment (4 weeks out -- the wait has not been easy) for April 3rd, which we are anxiously awaiting.  This weekend we received the insurance approval for the referral -- but it's to UCSF, not to Stanford.  Aggravating, to say the very least.

He's going to make some calls tomorrow to be sure this isn't just some clerical mix-up.  In the meantime, I've looked at the websites for both centers and, while I know that isn't the best way to judge a medical team, its not obvious that one is better than the other.  Both seem to have teams specifically geared toward AN treatment.  Obviously, since we have the appointment at Stanford we'd like to go there (and his ENT's opinion is that Stanford is the better facility); but if we're going to have to fight with insurance companies to be at Stanford, we want to be sure its a fight worth undertaking.  UCSF is slightly more convenient for us in terms of location, but that's not a huge factor.

Does anyone on here have experience (bad or good) at either Stanford or UCSF?  Would you recommend, or not recommend, either?  We are expecting that surgery will be recommended (although we don't know for sure, obviously) as he is only 49, healthy, and still has a fair amount of hearing in the affected ear.

Thank you,
Lisa

[CHD63]

Hi Lisa .....

Working with insurance companies can be exasperating, to say the least.  I hope it is a simple clerical mistake.

I know nothing about UCSF, but others may chime in here about that.  Stanford is well-known in the AN world as having an excellent reputation for Cyberknife treatment of ANs.

I'm curious who his appointment is with .....

The size of your husband's AN is well within the limits for having all three options available to him:  wait and watch, radiation, or surgery.  However, size is not the only consideration ..... exact location of the AN and his symptoms are equally important in making the decision.

Let us know what he does.

Clarice

[Syl]

Lisa,

Though I had my surgery at Kaiser, one of my surgeons was Dr. Steven Cheung with the UCSF Department of Otolaryngology. They are definitely experts in the field. That is why Kaiser works with them. It was because of this association with UCSF that I felt confident that my treatment at Kaiser was the right choice for me.

I think either choice would be an excellent one.
Syl

[lisa1972]

Thanks to you both for your input ... we're still trying to work it out, but its reassuring to know that both facilities have good reputations.

Clarice -- my husband wrote down that the appointment is with someone named Santoramo, although I don't see a doctor with that name on their website.  (maybe he heard the name wrong; which is weirdly ironic.) I'm sure I'll be back with an update -- although I am trying to encourage my husband to read through this forum himself and post his questions and concerns.  He's not quite ready for that yet, but maybe soon ...

Thanks again,
Lisa

[CHD63]

Lisa .....

Please continue to urge your husband to check out this forum.  I know I went through that denial phase where if I didn't think about it, my AN did not exist .....    Alas, it did exist and when I worked through all of that, this forum was a great source of knowledge and support.  Just tell him to skip over the horror stories ..... most AN patients have successful treatment results and do not post it on here as much.  That is one of the big reasons I continue to post.  I did have a good outcome ..... twice and I really want to share that there is life after an AN.

I could not find any reference to a Dr. Santoramo in California at all so I'm wondering if the name is correct.  I would call whatever number you have for Stanford and ask.  It's possible that is where the mistake was made ...... maybe his appointment is at UCSF.  It would be good to know ahead of time.   

In the meantime I did find out that UCSF has an excellent reputation as a research facility.

Keep in touch.

Clarice