Good valid statistics out there?

[Tisha]

I run across statistic on the web that I have no idea what year, who put them together, how valid they are, anything.  I'm particularly interesed in fracitioned radiation from some of the major institutions.  JH, Stanford, Straten Island, etc.

Is there somewhere, some association that tracks these things that is reliable that you know of?  I find this research very frustrating to have the correct unbiased facts.

Thanks

Tisha

[sgerrard]

Are you looking for comparisons between institutions? That can be difficult to find.

This post has a good recent article on radiation results, including FSR:
http://anausa.org/forum/index.php?topic=7837.0

Like many articles, though, it focuses on overall results for FSR, as well as other radiation and surgery methods. It doesn't give statistics for particular institutions. Comparing institutions is difficult to do, because it is hard to ensure that all of them report results exactly the same way. They may also have different distributions of patients - if they only take small ANs, for instance, they would likely show better results. That is generally true for both surgery and radiation comparisons.

At that point I think people usually start contacting specific doctors, and try to find out how many ANs they have treated, what their results have been, and what others have to say about them. They also start looking for a gut feeling that a doctor and a place will work well for them.

I'm not sure if I am helping here or not...

Steve